Fourth Circuit Joins Other Circuits In Narrow Read of Public Disclosure Bar
Posted 02/5/15
Under the False Claims Act, a whistleblower may be precluded from filing a qui tam lawsuit based on information that has already been publicly disclosed by another source. This so-called "public disclosure bar" is designed to weed out "parasitic" actions from those brought by whistleblowers with true inside knowledge of fraud. There has been some disagreement among the courts as to how "public" a disclosure must...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
This week's Department of Justice "catch of the week" goes to Florida cardiologist, Dr. Asad Qamar, and his physician group, the Institute for Cardiovascular Excellence. On Monday, the DOJ intervened in two whistleblower lawsuits alleging Qamar and his group billed Medicare for medically unnecessary peripheral artery interventions and paid kickbacks to patients by waiving...
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
The whistleblower retaliation provisions of the False Claims Act offer broad relief to "employees" who are terminated, suspended, harassed or otherwise discriminated against by their employers for engaging in protected whistleblowing activity. Congress amended the statute in 2009 to expand these provisions beyond employees to also reach "contractors" and "agents" of a...