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FCA Materiality

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to materiality issues in whistleblower litigation. You may also be interested in our pages:

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Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Attorneys File Brief to Supreme Court on Behalf of Senator Grassley

Posted  05/26/22
Abraham Lincoln Monument
Constantine Cannon whistleblower attorneys were proud to represent long-time champion of the False Claims Act (FCA) Senator Charles Grassley in filing an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court. In the brief, available here, Senator Grassley urges the Court to repair a worrying trend among certain courts that is undermining the statute. Specifically, the brief describes how the Seventh Circuit’s decision...

February 9, 2022

The Catholic Medical Center (CMC) will pay $3.8 million for violations of the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute. Over a ten-year period, the CMC provided call coverage services to a cardiologist, for free, in exchange for lucrative referrals to their hospital, resulting in receipt of millions of dollars for services and medical procedures. USAO NH

Senator Grassley Leads Bi-Partisan Pro-Whistleblower Push to Amend False Claims Act

Posted  07/30/21
Senator Chuck Grassley Plague
Perennial whistleblower-champion Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is at it again.  This time with the bi-partisan legislation he just introduced to further expand the reach of the False Claims Act, the government's key fraud enforcement tool.  The statute was enacted in 1863 to fight widespread fraud by companies selling rotten food, sickly mules, and defective weapons to the Union Army during the Civil War. But...

DOJ Fights a Catch-22 in False Claims Act Cases

Posted  07/23/21
DOJ website magnified logo
Cases under the False Claims Act live or die on their evidence, and it’s no surprise that defendants wage long wars to resist efforts by the plaintiff (whether a whistleblower or the government) to prove their case.  Heeding the old saw about the best defense, defendants also generally go on the offensive.  They happily foot staggering legal bills to try to wear out a typically less-well-funded plaintiff with...

Whistleblower Champion Chuck Grassley Pushes for Further Strengthening of False Claims Act (Again)

Posted  03/26/21
female standing proud with her silhouette as a superhero
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) already is celebrated as the modern-day champion of the False Claims Act.  This is the government's main fraud-fighting tool, which empowers whistleblowers to act as private attorneys general and sue on the government's behalf over fraud in government contracts and programs.  In successful cases, it rewards these whistleblowers with between 15% and 30% of the government's...

Eleventh Circuit Revives VA Mortgage Fraud Whistleblower Case

Posted  01/22/21
By Leah Judge
mortgage papers with gavel, cash and magnifying glass
Last week, a three-judge panel on the Eleventh Circuit breathed new life into a fifteen-year-old mortgage fraud lawsuit brought by two whistleblowers under the False Claims Act.  The opinion, United States ex rel. Bibby v. Mortgage Investors Corporation adds another voice to the chorus of circuit courts applying the Supreme Court’s landmark 2016 ruling on the FCA’s “materiality” standard, Universal Health...

DOJ Affirms its Materiality Provision but Threatens to Dismiss Gilead FCA Case

Posted  12/7/18
Supreme Court Building
On November 30, 2018, the United States filed its amicus curiae brief before the Supreme Court in Gilead Sciences, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Campie (“Gilead”). The brief highlights two key topics in False Claims Act (“FCA”) litigation: (1) the interpretation of materiality under Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 19889 (2016) (“Escobar”) and (2) the impact of...

Ninth Circuit Refuses to Kill Incentive Compensation Ban Whistleblower Suit

Posted  08/31/18
By Leah Judge
Education Fraud
Last week, the Ninth Circuit refused to kill a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging that San Francisco’s Academy of Art University violated the federal incentive compensation ban. The ban, which falls under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, prohibits schools that receive federal funds from paying incentives to employees for securing enrollments. The ban operates to protect students from pushy recruiters looking to...

Constantine Cannon Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of AARP

Posted  07/27/18
Constantine Cannon is proud to have partnered with AARP Foundation to represent AARP, AARP Foundation, Center for Medicare Advocacy, Justice in Aging, the National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care, and the National Health Law Program, as amici curiae in the whistleblower-initiated case of United States ex rel. Angela Ruckh v. Salus Rehabilitation, currently on appeal before the 11th Circuit. The appeal...

False Claims Act Developments: Sixth Circuit Rules that Timing Matters When It Comes to Certifying Plans of Care

Posted  06/21/18
By Leah Judge Reaffirming the importance of patient plans of care, the Sixth Circuit recently held that the timing of a physician’s certification of such plans is material to the government’s decision to pay for home health services. The case marks another circuit court’s application of the materiality standard announced in Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, and serves as a rebuke...
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