The FCA Insider

The FCA Insider

Insights and updates on False Claims Act Litigation

Category Archives: Defense Arguments

Subscribe to Defense Arguments RSS Feed
Defense Arguments, Retaliation

Seventh Circuit Suggests High Standard Under the FCA Whistleblower Retaliation Provision

Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed summary judgement against an employee-whistleblower who had claimed that her former employer retaliated against her in violation of the False Claims Act’s (FCA) whistleblower protection provision. Lam v. Springs Window Fashions, LLC, 37 F.4th 431 (7th Cir. 2022). The court held that her… Continue Reading
Anti-Kickback Statute, Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Potential Anti-Kickback Prosecution Does Not Give Blanket Fifth Amendment Protection in a Medical Malpractice Suit

An Ohio Court of Appeals recently weighed in on the proper protocols one must take in order to successfully assert one’s Fifth Amendment Constitutional Right against self-incrimination in relation to a discovery request in a civil case that may have incriminating affects in an ongoing anti-kickback statute (AKS) investigation. The Fifth Amendment of the United… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Defenses, FCA Litigation

Seventh Circuit Clarifies Pleading Standard for Anesthesiologist’s False Claims Action

The Seventh Circuit recently reversed a lower court’s ruling that an amended complaint in a qui tam lawsuit filed under the False Claims Act (FCA) alleging fraudulent anesthesiology billing practices failed to meet the pleading standard under Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. In U.S. ex. rel. Mamalakis vs. Anesthetix Management LLC,… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Defenses

Sixth Circuit Affirms Dismissed FCA Case against Walmart involving Opiate Prescription Allegations

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit dismissed a relator-pharmacist’s False Claim Act (FCA) case, holding that the pharmacist claims, largely based on a stolen Medical Expenses Summary, lacked merit. In U.S. ex. rel. Sheoran v. Wal-Mart Stores East, Case No. 20-2128 (6th Cir. June 4, 2021), the court dismissed all claims brought… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Alleged Emergency Room Advanced Professional Practitioner Billing Scheme FCA Case Proceeds

In U.S. ex rel. Sonyika v. ApolloMD, Inc. et al., 2021 WL 1222379 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 31, 2021), a Georgia federal court allowed a relator’s Amended Complaint alleging a fraudulent scheme involving improper billing for services rendered by Advanced Professional Practitioners (APP) in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA) and the Georgia-equivalent to proceed. The… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Defenses, FCA Litigation

Fifth Circuit Vacates Fraud Conviction after Denying Codefendants’ Appeal

The U.S. Fifth Circuit recently reversed a former home health agency employee’s conviction and vacated his sentence related to three counts of healthcare fraud and abuse. Jonathan Nora was convicted by the trial court of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, aiding and abetting healthcare fraud, and several violations of the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS)… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, OIG, Stark Law

MedMal Plaintiff Uses Anti-Kickback and Stark to Avoid Summary Judgment

A federal court recently allowed a plaintiff’s state law negligence claim, which utilized the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) and federal physician self-referral law (the “Stark Law”) as legal support to survive a motion for summary judgment. In Post v. AmerisourceBergen Corporation, No. 1:19-CV-73 (N.D.W. Va. Nov. 2, 2020), Plaintiff, Frances G. Post, filed suit against Defendants,… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, DOJ, Individual Liability, Investigations

Fifth Circuit Upholds Health Care Fraud Convictions for Home Health Agency Employees

The U.S. Fifth Circuit recently upheld convictions and sentences against five named defendants, each charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and several counts of substantive health care fraud.  In United States v. Barnes, No. 18-31074, 2020 WL 6304699 (5th Cir. Oct. 28, 2020), the Fifth… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Sixth Circuit Holds Qui Tam Plaintiff a Government “Agent” for Public-Disclosure Bar

A recent Sixth Circuit opinion continues to “snuff [ ] out parasitic suits” brought under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) through the public-disclosure bar.  In U.S. ex rel. Holloway v. Heartland Hospice, Inc. (June 3, 2020 opinion), the court affirmed the lower court’s entry of summary judgment in favor of a hospice provider on grounds… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments

Value-Based Purchasing and the False Claims Act: Tenth Circuit Finds Falsified Quality Data Immaterial Under Escobar

Last month, the Tenth Circuit upheld a grant of summary judgment in U.S. ex rel. Janssen v. Lawrence Memorial Hospital, 2020 WL 594508 (10th Cir. Feb. 7, 2020), applying the  “rigorous” and “demanding” standard of materiality for False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases established by the Supreme Court in Escobar.  In Janssen, the relator alleged that… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Tenth Circuit Affirms an Award of Attorneys’ Fees for a Successful FCA Defendant

On June 11, 2019, the Tenth Circuit affirmed an award of $92,592.75 in attorneys’ fees to the defendants in Pack v. Hickey, 776 F. App’x 549 (10th Cir. 2019). Pack had appealed the district court’s entry of summary judgment and related orders in favor of Defendants Maureen Hickey (“Hickey”) and Cloud Peak Initiatives, Inc. (“Cloud… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Certiorari Granted in Eleventh Circuit Case Interpreting Tolling Provision of FCA Statute

The Supreme Court recently granted certiorari in an Eleventh Circuit False Claims Act (FCA) case, Cochise Consultancy, Inc. v. U.S. ex rel. Hunt, No. 16-12836 (11th Cir. 2018). The Supreme Court will decide how the FCA’s statute of limitations applies in qui tam actions that are brought by a private relator, particularly in cases where… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Third Circuit Finds that FCA Retaliation Claims Require a Showing of “But-For” Causation

Earlier this year, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in the case of DiFiore v. CSL Behring, LLC.  DiFiore v. CSL Behring, LLC, 879 F.3d 71, 73 (3d Cir. 2018). The opinion set forth the precedent that “but-for causation” is required… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Eleventh Circuit Expands the Divide on the FCA’s Statute of Limitations

The FCA’s statute of limitations, 31 U.S.C. § 3731(b), has been a source of confusion and disagreement amongst the courts and litigants for years. The disagreement is focused primarily on whether a relator in a non-intervened case can take advantage of the three-year government knowledge/ten-year lookback provision under subsection (b)(2) or whether the relator is… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, DOJ

DOJ Memorandum Sets Out FCA Dismissal Factors

A January 10 internal memorandum from the director of the fraud section of the DOJ’s civil division commercial litigation branch, which has recently become public, sets out the factors the government should consider in dismissing False Claims Act (FCA) cases in which it has declined to intervene, and may suggest a greater possibility that the… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Pleading with Particularity: Sixth Circuit Upholds Stringent Pleading Requirements in FCA Cases

In an effort to avoid transforming the FCA into “an all-purpose antifraud statute,” the Sixth Circuit recently reaffirmed that relators must plead a connection between the alleged fraud and an actual claim made to the government.  The Sixth Circuit’s decision in United States ex rel. Ibanez v. Bristol-Myers Squibb confirms the long-held rule that absent… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Ninth Circuit’s Application of the FCA’s Government-Action Bar Provides Finality to Defendants

The FCA contains several provisions that are aimed at discouraging “parasitic” or duplicative qui tam actions. One such provision, known as the “government-action bar,” prohibits relators from bring a qui tam action “based upon allegations or transactions which are the subject of a civil suit . . . in which the Government is already a… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, FCA Litigation

Seventh Circuit Looks to “Separate the Wheat from the Chaff” by Adopting a New FCA Causation Test

In United States v. Luce, the Seventh Circuit overturned a two-decade precedent by holding that proximate causation, and not “but for” causation, was the proper standard to employ in FCA cases.  In so holding, the Seventh Circuit undid the 25-year circuit split it had created through use of “but for” causation in FCA cases. In Luce, the… Continue Reading
Defense Arguments, DOJ, FCA Litigation

Number of Medically Unnecessary False Claims Cases Likely to Diminish

The DOJ recently intervened in a lawsuit against Prime Healthcare Services, Inc., and its subsidiaries (“Prime”).  The lawsuit alleges that Prime submitted claims for medically unnecessary services and routinely pressured its staff to exaggerate Medicare beneficiaries illnesses in order to increase the number of inpatient admissions and billed for services as inpatient admissions that should… Continue Reading

We use cookies to enhance your experience of our website. By continuing to use this website, you agree to the use of these cookies. For more information and to learn how you can change your cookie settings, please see our policy.

Agree