This July, we detailed the Supreme Court’s surprising revival in United States ex rel. Polansky v. Exec. Health Resources, No. 21-1052 (S. Ct. June 16, 2023) of the question of whether the qui tam provisions of the False...more
12/8/2023
/ Appointments Clause ,
Article II ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
SCOTUS ,
Take Care Clause ,
United States ex rel Polansky v Executive Health Resources Inc ,
Whistleblowers
Do the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA), see 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1), violate the Executive Branch’s exclusive grant of authority under Article II of the United States Constitution? This long-dormant question...more
Since its adoption in 2008, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, (“BIPA”), 740 ILCS 14/1, et seq., has imposed severe penalties—$1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation—for...more
Over the last year, a few important questions related to False Claims Act (FCA) cases have garnered significant attention. Two of those questions ultimately made their way to the Supreme Court. In one case, which has already...more
As many of our readers are likely aware, last week the Supreme Court agreed to hear a second False Claims Act (FCA) issue this term. Having previously accepted and heard argument on a case concerning the government’s...more
In a significant win for False Claims Act (FCA) defendants, the Eighth Circuit recently reversed a district court decision that defendants violated the FCA premised on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). The Eighth...more
STATISTICAL TRENDS IN FALSE CLAIMS ACT LITIGATION -
FCA case activity for 2021 reveals seemingly contrary trends. For the federal fiscal year (FY) that ended September 30, 2021, the DOJ annual report on FCA enforcement...more
2/11/2022
/ Clinical Trials ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Medical Devices ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Advantage ,
Nursing Homes ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Pharmacies ,
Qui Tam ,
Telehealth
On January 21, 2022, the First Circuit adopted a deferential standard that gives the government broad authority to dismiss False Claims Act (FCA) suits brought by private citizens (or relators) on behalf of the government...more
Overview of Qui Tam Activity -
We identified 49 health care-related qui tam cases that were unsealed in September and October 2018.
The government intervened in whole or in part in 10 of those 49 unsealed cases, which...more
2/25/2019
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
Dismissals ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Former Employee ,
Fraud ,
Health Care Providers ,
Physician Medicare Reimbursements ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
RICO ,
Sealed Records ,
Voluntary Dismissals ,
Whistleblowers
In 2018, the volume of False Claims Act (FCA) litigation remained high, and health care-related qui tam (i.e., whistleblower) cases continued to lead the way. Using data compiled in the Mintz Health Care Qui Tam Database...more
In this issue, we provide an overview of 62 recently unsealed qui tam cases and take an in-depth look at four of those cases. Two of the featured cases concern alleged schemes to provide unnecessary therapy to residents of...more
11/9/2018
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Former Employee ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Medicare ,
Medicare Part D ,
Physicians ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
Settlement Agreements ,
TRICARE
As previously noted in this blog, the Neiman Marcus payment card data theft class action reflects a lenient approach to the issue of standing in data breach cases. In that case, the Seventh Circuit rejected arguments that...more
Overview of Qui Tam Activity -
..We identified 46 health care related qui tam cases that were unsealed in February and March 2018.
..The government intervened in whole or in part in 14% of those unsealed cases, which was...more
Overview of Qui Tam Activity -
..We identified 60 health care related qui tam cases that were unsealed in December 2017 and January 2018.
..The government intervened in 14% of those unsealed cases, which is consistent...more
In the latest decision concerning standing in data breach cases, the Fourth Circuit has vacated a district court’s dismissal and reinstated putative class action data breach litigation against the National Board of Examiners...more
A challenge to the use of a cy pres charitable donations to settle privacy claims against Google will be heard by the Supreme Court. In Frank v. Gaos, petitioners seek reversal of lower court decisions rejecting their...more
Overview of Qui Tam Activity -
..We identified 56 health care related qui tam cases that were unsealed in October and November 2017.
..The intervention rate for those unsealed cases was 20%, which is consistent with...more
A circuit split on whether actual misuse of personal data is required to have standing to assert data breach claims remains unresolved. Last week the Supreme Court rejected a petition to review that issue in CareFirst v....more
3/1/2018
/ Article III ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Jurisdiction ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing
Overview of Qui Tam Activity:
..We identified 47 health care-related qui tam cases that were unsealed in August and September 2017.
..Over those two months, the rate of intervention was relatively high — at least 34%. For...more
In this month’s issue of our Qui Tam Update, we review an unusual cluster of five cases alleging that common defendants — a health care provider and its subsidiaries — provided medically unnecessary services to hospice,...more
This week’s disclosure that a 2013 data breach may have affected all 3 billion Yahoo accounts then in existence could alter the scope of the consolidated data breach cases currently pending against Yahoo in the federal court...more
In this issue we report on recent qui tam activity and look at three unsealed cases.
One case involves allegations of “up coding” by a hospital that allegedly billed routine transport as emergency transport, reimbursed at...more
Despite some courts’ evident confusion about the impact of payment card theft on consumer cardholders, other courts are getting it right. Just this week, a judge in the Northern District of Illinois issued an order dismissing...more
6/16/2017
/ Actual Injuries ,
Amended Complaints ,
Banks ,
Barnes and Noble ,
Credit Cards ,
Credit Monitoring ,
Data Breach ,
Debit Cards ,
Dismissals ,
Fraudulent Charges ,
Standing ,
Theft
Snatching victory of a sort from the jaws of defeat, shareholders who brought a derivative action alleging that the 2014 Home Depot data breach resulted from officers’ and directors’ breaches of fiduciary duties have reached...more
5/2/2017
/ Appeals ,
Breach of Duty ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Governance ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Derivative Suit ,
Fiduciary Duty ,
Home Depot ,
Popular ,
Settlement ,
Shareholders
When data thieves steal payment card data, consumers suffer no legally cognizable injuries. Card issuers absorb the fraudulent charges and replace the affected cards. Because fraudulent charges are not billed to consumers,...more
4/24/2017
/ Actual Injuries ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Liability ,
Data Breach ,
Debit and Credit Card Transactions ,
Fraudulent Charges ,
Hotels ,
Identity Protection Services ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Standing