On February 21, 2025, the Supreme Court unanimously held that requests for reimbursement from a privately administered fund qualified as “claims” under the False Claims Act (FCA) because the government “provide[d]” a...more
On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the Order), which seeks to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies...more
1/28/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Litigation ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
OFCCP ,
Trump Administration
In a groundbreaking opinion issued on September 30, 2024, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit, holding that the qui tam...more
On June 6, 2024, the US Supreme Court decided Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe and Becerra v. Northern Arapaho Tribe (Nos. 23-250 and 23-253), holding that the Indian Health Service (IHS) must reimburse Native nations,...more
6/12/2024
/ Becerra v San Carlos Apache Tribe ,
Claim Procedures ,
Health Insurance ,
Indian Health Service (IHS) ,
Medicaid ,
Medical Reimbursement ,
Medicare ,
Native American Issues ,
SCOTUS ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Tribal Government Programs ,
Tribal Governments
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
6/5/2023
/ Drug Pricing ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Materiality ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Misrepresentation ,
Objective Falsity ,
Pharmacies ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Safeco Insurance Co of America v Burr ,
Scienter ,
SCOTUS ,
Subjective Standard ,
Universal Health Services Inc v United States ex rel Escobar ,
US ex rel Thomas Proctor v Safeway Inc ,
US ex rel Tracy Schutte et al v SuperValu Inc et al
On January 13, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a pair of consolidated cases from the Seventh Circuit that could result in one of the most consequential False Claims Act (FCA) decisions since the FCA was amended...more
On December 5, 2022, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) published proposed revisions to 25 C.F.R. Part 151—the regulations governing the United States’ discretionary acquisition of land in trust for the...more
12/14/2022
/ Administrative Procedure ,
Bureau of Indian Affairs ,
Department of the Interior ,
Economic Development ,
Indian Reorganization Act ,
Indian Tribal Trusts ,
Native American Issues ,
Real Estate Transfers ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Tribal Economic Development Projects ,
Tribal Lands
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced plans to use the False Claims Act (FCA) to pursue cybersecurity-related fraud by government contractors, subcontractors and grant recipients, including for providing...more
10/14/2021
/ Compliance ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Protection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DFARS ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Subcontractors
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on January 14, 2021 that it had recovered $2.2 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in its 2020 fiscal year. While that figure is down considerably from prior...more
On March 27, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act was signed into law, setting in motion the distribution of funds and other relief mechanisms to counteract the economic fallout from the...more
On March 27, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law, setting in motion the distribution of funds and other relief mechanisms to counteract the economic fallout from the coronavirus...more
On March 27, the President signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The $2 trillion stimulus package is the largest in American history and will make available hundreds of billions of...more
After days of intense negotiation, last night the Senate passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, a $2 trillion stimulus package to respond to the economic fallout from the coronavirus (COVID-19)...more
The Supreme Court held that the FCA’s extended limitations period is available to relators in qui tam cases even when the government declines to intervene. Lower courts continued to divide over the first-to-file bar,...more
1/14/2020
/ Appeals ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Grants ,
Health Care Providers ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
Qui Tam ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement ,
State and Local Government
A recent report by a pro-transparency group and The Wharton School found a clear trend among S&P 500 companies toward increased disclosures and oversight regarding their political spending. Per the report, more than half of...more
11/5/2019
/ Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Information Reports ,
Lobbying ,
Pay-To-Play ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Political Contributions ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Risk Management ,
Risk Mitigation ,
S&P ,
Shareholder Activism ,
Shareholders ,
Transparency
After decades in which the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) received relatively little attention, a confluence of recent events has given the statute newfound prominence. Together, these developments compound the...more
3/11/2019
/ Advisory Opinions ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Exemptions ,
Foreign Agents ,
Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) ,
Foreign Governments ,
Foreign Nationals ,
Lobbying ,
Lobbying Disclosure Act ,
National Security ,
Recordkeeping Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements
Federal False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries in fiscal year 2018 amounted to $2.88 billion, down by roughly $600 million from the prior year and dropping below $3 billion for the first time in eight years. Healthcare cases,...more
1/9/2019
/ Causation ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
False Implied Certification Theory ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Procurement Systems ,
First-to-File ,
Healthcare ,
Materiality ,
Objective Falsity ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Public Disclosure ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Retaliation ,
Scienter ,
Statute of Limitations
Earlier this year, Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, was forced to resign because, shortly after taking the position, she had purchased stock in tobacco and pharmaceutical companies —...more
The Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in Christie v. National Collegiate Athletic Association (Nos. 16-476, 16-477) will have profound implications for sports betting in the United States and will potentially open the door...more
The ethical principles that govern the conduct of federal officials have received more media attention over the past several months than at any time in recent memory. This article addresses the most pertinent rules that...more
With the 114th Congress drawing to a close, a number of officials will leave the legislative branch for new opportunities. This transition allows the private and nonprofit sectors to recruit seasoned professionals with recent...more
As the Obama administration winds down, the number of administration officials leaving the government will increase dramatically. The traditional exodus that accompanies the end of a presidential administration creates...more
In 2015, the Justice Department (DOJ) continued to give high priority to False Claims Act (FCA) investigations, bringing in nearly $3.6 billion in settlements and judgments. More than 630 qui tam suits were filed. DOJ's...more
On Friday, December 4, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case raising the questions of whether implied certification liability is permissible under the False Claims Act and, if so, under what circumstances. Because many of...more
On November 19, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) published a final rule that makes sweeping changes to the process for obtaining rights of way for proposed oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines, railroads,...more