False Claims Act Insights - If Everything Matters, Nothing Does: Parsing Materiality in FCA Disputes
Podcast: Non-binding Guidance: SEC Disclosure Issues for Life Sciences Companies
Life Sciences Quarterly (Q3 2019): SEC Enforcement and Class Actions Regarding FDA Communications
Host Jonathan Porter welcomes Husch Blackwell attorney Kip Randall to the podcast to discuss the beguiling notion of materiality in the context of False Claims Act litigation. Kip and Jonathan draw from case law to illustrate...more
Violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (the “AKS”) have long served as a basis for liability under the federal False Claims Act (the “FCA”). Recently, however, there has been increasing uncertainty regarding how far...more
The federal government awards billions of dollars each year in sponsored research funding to institutions of higher education, academic research institutions, non-profit organizations, and companies—making federal grants an...more
As we do every year, this issue revisits the key cases and other developments from the year gone by. And by most metrics, 2023 was a notable year for the False Claims Act (FCA). We start with the numbers: The Department...more
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...more
Below are noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) decisions from the third quarter of 2023. The main issues in the cases are: Materiality. The Fourth Circuit held that a pharmacist’s efforts to falsify patient eligibility...more
The False Claims Act’s (FCA) materiality requirement as articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 579 U.S. 176 (2016) was again front and center, this time in a...more
Continuing his long and storied history of pushing for stronger enforcement of the False Claims Act (FCA), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) recently led a bipartisan group of senators in introducing the False Claims Amendments...more
For the second time in three years, amendments to the False Claims Act have been proposed in the U.S. Senate. If enacted, the amendments would create uncertainty for FCA defendants and expand the scope of the FCA’s...more
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...more
On July 25, 2023, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced the False Claims Amendments Act of 2023. The proposed amendment to the False Claims Act does not...more
On July 25, 2023, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL.) introduced amendments to the False Claims Act (FCA), a law that protects the federal government from fraud, saving taxpayers billions. The FCA...more
The Supreme Court issued a number of headline-grabbing decisions this term on topics like religious accommodation, LGBTQ protections, and consideration of race in college admissions. These decisions are wide-reaching and...more
On June 1, 2023, the Supreme Court decided a pair of closely watched False Claims Act (FCA) cases, U.S. ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc., No. 21-1326, and U.S. ex rel. Proctor v. Safeway, Inc., No. 22-111....more
In this post, we summarize noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) decisions so far from 2023. Each of the three circuit court opinions discussed here ruled in favor of the defendants on different aspects of the FCA: the Sixth...more
The Supreme Court’s 2016 decision in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar resolved a Circuit split regarding the implied certification theory as a basis for False Claims Act (FCA) liability. While...more
Because qui tam claims sound in fraud, under precedent and Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, relators are required to plead their claims with a heightened degree of specificity that many, having limited...more
Tenth Circuit recently emphasized that the liability imposed under the False Claims Act (FCA) is predicated on a rigorous materiality requirement. Upholding dismissal of a qui tam complaint based on allegations of false...more
As previously discussed as a part of our ongoing FCA Fundamentals series, the False Claims Act (FCA) is the federal government’s most important and most effective tool for fighting fraud. While Congress has substantially...more
There have been several significant rulings on various provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA) in the first quarter of this year, which we highlight in this post. Government Dismissal Authority - To start the year, in...more
The False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729, et seq. is the federal government’s primary and most effective tool for fighting fraud. This post provides an overview of the elements that plaintiffs must satisfy to establish...more
E. False Claims Act: Materiality - 1. False Claims Amendments Act of 2021 (S.2428) - • The Senate Committee on the Judiciary has approved for the Senate’s full consideration an amendment to the FCA that would...more
The final months of 2021 saw a flurry of noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) activity. Among other developments, appellate courts issued important decisions concerning materiality, the government’s qui tam dismissal authority,...more
The year 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the Bradley False Claims Act Year in Review. In that decade, much has remained the same in FCA enforcement. To start with the obvious: It continues to result in billions of dollars...more
As we have previously covered in a blog post dated August 25, 2021, the Senate is currently considering Senate Bill 2428, the False Claims Amendments Act of 2021 (FCAA), which would cause several significant changes that...more