The Department of Justice announced a settlement in unique case advancing a uncommon theory of recovery for False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuits. CA Inc., (“CA”), agreed to pay $45 million to resolve allegations brought by a whistleblower under the FCA. CA’s settlement further cements the government’s commitment to routing out fraud…
A False Claims Act lawsuit unsealed last year in Southern California U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California announced that her office elected to intervene in a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging rampant Medicare fraud at a group of Southern California hospitals. The suit was first “unsealed” in late…
A New Hampshire contractor and Haverhill, Massachusetts subcontractors will pay $420,000 after settling allegations of submitting false and inflated payment requests for MBTA renovations. The case indicates that crackdowns on illegal practices in construction for the government are on the rise. S&R Construction, its president Stephen Early, subcontractor A&S Electrical,…
Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the resolution of its claims of healthcare fraud against Physical Therapy Institute, LLC for $7.1 million dollars. The lawsuit was commenced by two former employees turned whistleblowers, whose identities were kept secret, as a result of protections afforded to corporate “do-gooders” under the Civil…
A U.S. hospital chain, TeamHealth, agreed to settle allegations that a recently acquired subsidiary, IPC, violated the False Claims Act by “up-coding” Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not performed, or were exaggerated. The lawsuit settled by TeamHealth was initiated by Dr. Bijan Oughatiyan, a physician formerly employed by…
A midwest healthcare provider agreed to resolve False Claims Act allegations brought by two whistleblowers for $18 million dollars. The plaintiffs in the qui tam case were former employees of the company. Evercare, now known as Optum Palliative and Hospice Care, is a Minnesota-based provider of hospice care in Arizona,…
MedStar Ambulance Inc., a large Massachusetts ambulance company, will pay $12,700,000 dollars to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations brought by a corporate “whistleblower.” The False Claims Act allows individuals with information about fraud on the government to bring suits on behalf of the United States to recover ill-gotten funds from contractors.…
This month, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that Shire Pharmaceuticals will pay $350 million to settle False Claims Act (“FCA”) allegations that Shire and the company it acquired in 2011, Advanced BioHealing (“ABH”), used kickbacks and other prohibited sales methods to compel hospitals, Doctors, and their firms to overuse its product “Dermagraft.”…
A Michigan mortgage services company settled a protracted $48 million dollar False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuit this week. The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan announced, “the settlement announced today holds United Shore accountable for its endorsement of ineligible loans for FHA mortgage insurance.” United Shore Financial Services…
A physician practicing in Townshend, Vermont, paid $76,000 to the U.S. government to resolve allegations that she violated the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) by submitting “false claims” for reimbursement to Medicare for unnecessary and unapproved “pain management” injection procedures. The False Claims Act, passed in the aftermath of the…