Trends & Analysis -
..This issue looks at 18 health care–related qui tam cases that were unsealed in whole or in part in late October through November 2016.
..The cases identified were filed in federal district courts...more
Featured Unsealed Cases
United States ex rel. Thomas v. Best Choice Home Health Care Agency, Inc., No. 2:13-cv-02209 (D. Kan.) -
Complaint Filed: May 6, 2013 -
Complaint Unsealed: October 24, 2016...more
3/17/2017
/ Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Civil Penalty Fund ,
Co-Conspirators ,
Corporate Integrity Agreement ,
Criminal Penalties ,
Dismissals ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
False-Certification of Conformance ,
Former Employee ,
Guilty Pleas ,
Home Health Care ,
Intervenors ,
Kickbacks ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
Stark Law ,
State False Claims Acts ,
Whistleblowers
Counsel for a class of card-issuing banks filed a settlement agreement on March 8 proposing a class settlement to resolve claims arising from the 2014 theft of payment card data from Home Depot point-of-sale terminals. The...more
When hackers steal consumer data, injury to consumers is not a foregone conclusion. This is particularly so where credit and debit card numbers are stolen. Banks, not consumers, bear the cost of fraudulent charges. ...more
We have identified 30 health care–related qui tam cases that have been unsealed in whole or in part.
Trends & Analysis -
A substantial majority of the unsealed cases had been under seal for periods well in excess of...more
An old saw defines insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Wendy’s shareholders recently flouted that maxim by filing a derivative action this week against officers and...more
Dismissal Of Home Depot Derivative Action Extends Shareholder Losing Streak
An attempt to impose liability on corporate officers and directors for data breach-related losses has once again failed. On November 30,...more
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, 136 S. Ct. 1540 (2016), lower courts have begun to address whether alleged violations of statutes intended to protect privacy suffice, in the absence of...more
10/3/2016
/ Article III ,
CIPA ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Electronic Communications ,
Email ,
Google ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Screening Procedures ,
Spokeo ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
Wiretap Act
In its recent decision in Galaria v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., no. 15-3386 (6th Cir. Sept. 12, 2016). Co., No. 15-3386 (6th Cir. Sept. 12, 2016), a divided Sixth Circuit panel held that plaintiffs had standing to assert...more
9/16/2016
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Clapper v. Amnesty International ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hackers ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
Since our last issue, we have identified 31 recently unsealed health care-related whistleblower cases. In this Qui Tam Update, we analyze the trends and take an in-depth look at a few noteworthy cases....more
8/5/2016
/ Certificates of Compliance ,
Constructive Trusts ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
DEA ,
False Billing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Intervenors ,
Kickbacks ,
Medicare ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
State False Claims Acts ,
Unjust Enrichment ,
Whistleblowers
In a terse two-page order, Senior District Court Judge Paul Magnuson dismissed derivative claims brought against officers and directors of Target in connection with the 2013 holiday-season data breach. The dismissed claims,...more
In an important victory for employers, the Supreme Court in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins held that a plaintiff does not have Article III standing to sue in federal court under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and other federal...more
6/3/2016
/ Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Class Action ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Job Applicants ,
SCOTUS ,
Spokeo ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
Statutory Damages
Court holds that plaintiff must allege a concrete injury to have standing to sue for a statutory violation; remands for further proceedings -
In its just-issued decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, No. 13-1339, slip op....more
Trends & Analysis -
..We have identified 42 health care–related qui tam cases that have been unsealed in whole or in part since the cases covered in our last Qui Tam Update. Included in that count is one proceeding (the...more
Everyone loves a good courtroom drama. So just imagine this pitch: henchmen of an evil dictator hack their way into a movie studio computer system. Once inside, they steal the most sensitive personal information of the...more
The United States Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Tyson Foods employees could use representative evidence to establish liability and damages for class certification purposes. The opinion gives the plaintiffs’ class action...more
3/26/2016
/ Admissible Evidence ,
Calculation of Damages ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Class Members ,
Doffing ,
Donning ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Statistical Sampling ,
Tyson Foods v Bouaphakeo ,
Unpaid Overtime ,
Wage and Hour
Last week, a federal court in Atlanta issued an order preliminarily approving a proposed settlement – valued up to $19.5 million – of the consumer claims arising from the 2014 theft of payment card data from Home Depot. The...more
Last month, we wrote about the Supreme Court’s opinion in Campbell-Ewald Co. v. Gomez, in which the Court ruled that “an unaccepted Rule 68 Offer of Judgment for complete relief does not moot a plaintiff’s individual and...more
Last summer the Second Circuit issued an important decision that identified the proper test for determining whether an employer properly classified an individual as an unpaid intern. The decision was a victory for employers...more
Remember this? -
“Wetware” – coder slang for biological life forms (i.e., people) – is the weak link in most companies’ data security protections, according to a new data security report issued by the Association of...more
A Massachusetts Superior Court judge held that a plaintiff has standing to sue for money damages based on the mere exposure of plaintiff’s private information in an alleged data breach. The court concluded that the plaintiff...more
Trends & Analysis -
We have identified 24 health care–related qui tam cases that have been unsealed since our last Qui Tam Update. Of the 24 cases, five were filed within the past year, seven were filed in 2014, three...more
Experienced practitioners are anecdotally aware of the growth in recent years in the volume of health care qui tam litigation. That perceived trend is validated quite graphically in the most recent Department of Justice...more
Two years after the massive holiday season theft of customers’ payment card data from Target point of sale terminals, the Target data breach litigation appears to be entering its final act. On Tuesday, December 1, Target...more
In a decision almost a year in the making, the Third Circuit’s recent opinion in In re Google Inc. Cookie Placement Privacy Litig. (3d Cir. Nov. 10, 2015), (“Google”), reversed a trial court order dismissing a lawsuit...more