Articles and Blogs

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 February 22, 2024, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that it recovered over $2.68 billion in False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlements and judgments during the 2023 federal fiscal year. Notably, this amount stems from the highest number of settlements and judgments in a single year, including 543 settlements and judgments during this last... READ MORE

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin recently issued a decision involving protections for employees whose jobs involve the investigation of fraud. The case, brought under the anti-retaliation provision of the False Claims Act (“FCA”), is available here. Since 2009, the FCA’s anti-retaliation provision,(codified at 31 U.S.C. § 3730(h)(1)), has provided... READ MORE

The Ninth Circuit recently held in Hendrix ex rel. United States v. J-M Manufacturing Company, Inc. that in False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases, one penalty per project or FCA violation is proper, rather than one penalty per line item contained within the project or violation. Background In this case, the plaintiff brought suit against the... READ MORE

The Fourth Circuit recently held that providers may not defend a False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuit by arguing that eligibility requirements violate the Medicaid Act. Rather, liability under the FCA may still be established if any misrepresentations made by a provider influenced decision-makers and resulted in the submission of false claims to the government.... READ MORE

On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu, Inc. held that the mental state required by the False Claims Act (“FCA”) refers to the defendant’s actual knowledge and subjective beliefs about the truth of claims for payment submitted to federal payors. This decision overturns the growing body of... READ MORE

The Seventh Circuit recently held in Astellas US Holding, Inc. v. Federal Insurance Company, No. 21-3075 WL 3221737 (7th Cir. 2023) (“Astellas”) that insurance policies may need to cover settlements designed to compensate a party and make them whole, including settlements paid the United States government, and the cost of defense in False Claims... READ MORE

In August 2022, in this post, we alerted Michigan employers defending wrongful discharge claims in violation of public policy that internal, as well as external complaints, will suffice to support such claims. In facts stemming from the same case (after remand from the Michigan Supreme Court), Michigan employers should also recognize that wrongful discharge... READ MORE

On December 27, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published a proposed rule that could potentially have a significant impact on enrollees’ obligations under the “60-day” overpayment rule. The original overpayment rule, which was signed into law in 2014 with the Affordable Care Act and expanded to Medicare Parts A and... 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