Articles and Blogs

Beginning on August 1, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) launched a three-year Corporate Whistleblower Awards Pilot Program (the “Program”). This initiative expands the opportunity for health care whistleblowers, adding private health insurance claims to their quiver. It does so by allowing whistleblowers to report corporate misconduct to the DOJ’s Criminal Division through their... READ MORE

A Special Master for the Central District Court of California granted a motion to compel the disclosure of investigative documents that are no longer under seal in the course of an ongoing False Claims Act claim. UnitedHealth Group, Inc., et al. (“United”) filed a motion to compel the United States (“government”) to produce documents... READ MORE

On July 5, 2024, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals (“the Court”) ruled that a $7.5 million award of treble damages and civil penalties in an Iowa FCA case was unconstitutional due to the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against “excessive fines.” The Court also examined other matters, including the acceptability of statistical sampling and the... READ MORE

On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States overturned a long-standing doctrine, known as Chevron deference, that impacts a court’s deference to a government agency’s action during administrative proceedings. The Supreme Court held that federal courts cannot defer to agencies’ interpretations of statutes. Instead, courts must independently make this determination. Background The Supreme... READ MORE

After sweeping updates to Indiana’s emergency detention and involuntary commitment laws last year, the General Assembly made additional updates in 2024 in House Enrolled Act No. 1216. These changes begin impacting how providers apply for emergency detentions on July 1, 2024. Background Last year, Indiana rewrote its emergency detention laws to provide more treatment... READ MORE

On February 16, 2024, the Supreme Court of Alabama (“the Court”) published a decision in LePage v. Center for Reproductive Medicine (“LePage“), holding that frozen embryos are considered children under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act (the “Act”), which provides parents with a private right of action against any person whose wrongful act,... READ MORE

On August 16, 2023, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in the ongoing litigation regarding the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) approval and regulation of mifepristone (brand name Mifeprex), a drug used in medically induced abortions. The panel vacated in part and affirmed in part a... READ MORE

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals emphasized, in affirming a district court’s ruling on a motion to dismiss, that a contract merely incorporating a statutory or regulatory payment provision by reference, without more, does not make all terms of the statutory and regulatory scheme material, express conditions of payment in False Claims Act cases.... READ MORE

This morning, September 22, 2022, Special Judge Kelsey B. Hanlon, sitting in Monroe County Circuit Court, granted a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of Senate Enrolled Act No. 1 (SB 1) by members of the Medical Licensing Board of Indiana and Prosecutors from Hendricks, Lake, Marion, Monroe, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe and Warrick counties. Notably,... READ MORE

On May 23, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that significantly impacts a litigant’s right to compel arbitration and the circumstances that may result in a decision that a litigant has waived its right to compel arbitration. The Case In Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., an hourly employee at a fast food franchise... READ MORE