Articles and Blogs

The Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida (“the Court”) in United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, LLC et al., recently held that a relator’s role as set forth in the False Claims Act’s (“FCA”) qui tam provision is unconstitutional under Article II’s Appointments Clause and dismissed the case.... 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

In the recent case of Murray v. UBS Securities LLC et al., the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that whistleblowers do not need to show retaliatory intent as part of a retaliation claim against an employer under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”), which governs corporate financial reporting and recordkeeping. The Supreme Court reinstated a $900,000... READ MORE

A federal district court affirmed this guidance in a careful analysis of the attorney-client privilege and its application to protect separate legal entities within a larger corporate structure. Affirming that member entities are not treated as “one client,” the Court in U.S. ex rel Behnke v. CVS Caremark Corp., et al. denied a whistleblower’s... READ MORE

Earlier this week, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced that the United States recovered over $5.6 billion from False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases in the federal fiscal year 2021, “the second largest annual total in False Claims Act history” and more than doubling the FCA recoveries for the DOJ from fiscal year 2020. Of... READ MORE

This week, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the government’s 10-year deadline to file FCA actions could be extended to whistleblowers. The Court’s decision in Cochise Consultancy, Inc. et al. v. United States ex rel. Hunt[1] resolved a circuit split that had dogged the courts, whistleblowers and defendants for decades. Health care providers... READ MORE