Significant work goes into settling a False Claims Act action. Defendants may spend months negotiating with the government to reach an agreeable settlement — often even longer if the defendant pursues the arduous ability-to-pay financial analysis process. But what happens when you reach the end of this process and the relator objects to the agreed-upon
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed judgment against relators in a case alleging that a group of dairy farmers growing corn violated the False Claims Act by filing false insurance claims paid by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. In doing so, it held that a falsity in an insurance application does not constitute
The District of Massachusetts has joined the growing chorus of courts that have applied a heightened causation standard in False Claims Act (FCA) cases predicated on the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).
U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor recently ruled that the government must show a “but for” causal connection between an AKS violation and an allegedly
Bradley’s Cybersecurity and Privacy team keeps a close eye on litigation involving cybersecurity deficiencies, and recent settlements flagged by the team as noteworthy demonstrate ways the False Claims Act can be used by the government to force companies into a new technological era. Check out this blog post by members of the Government Enforcement and
The First Circuit will decide the causation standard required in False Claims Act (FCA) cases predicated on the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), deepening a circuit split on the issue and potentially teeing up Supreme Court intervention.
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton asked the First Circuit to review his recent ruling that the government need not prove
On August 25, 2023, the Third Circuit continued its trend of rulings unfavorable to FCA healthcare defendants in the latest appeal of U.S. ex rel. Druding et al. v. Care Alternatives et al., No. 22-1035, 2023 WL 5494333 (3d Cir. 2023), holding that medical record-keeping issues and documentation errors may be material under the
On July 25, 2023, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), introduced a bill that aims to, among other things, make it easier for the government to satisfy the False Claims Act’s materiality requirement when the government has made payment on a claim the government knows to be false or fraudulent. The bill, titled the “False Claims
On Friday, July 21, 2023, DOJ announced it has reached a $377,453,150 settlement with Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (Booz Allen), the parent company of Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., the large government and military contractor that also has commercial and international customers. DOJ alleged that Booz Allen violated the False Claims Act by “improperly billing
In its June 14, 2023, decision in United States ex rel. Michelle Calderon v. Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC, No. 22-1553, 2023 WL 3991013, (7th Cir. 2023), the Seventh Circuit explained the high bar for relators to prove proximate causation in FCA suits based on alleged false certifications of mortgage loans for Federal Housing Administration
On June 16, 2023, the Supreme Court in United States ex rel. Polanksy v. Executive Health Resources, affirmed the Third Circuit’s deferential standard regarding the government’s ability to dismiss False Claims Act (FCA) whistleblower cases being litigated by qui tam relators. Notwithstanding this deferential standard, the Court rejected the government’s position that it has