On March 25, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $4.6 million settlement with MORSECORP, Inc. (MORSE) over its alleged failures to satisfy cybersecurity requirements for federal defense contractors....more
4/16/2025
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Cybersecurity ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Qui Tam ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblowers
On August 22, the United States filed its complaint-in-intervention (Complaint) against the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Georgia Tech Research Corp. (GTRC, collectively, defendants), asserting claims...more
The United States notified the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia that it plans to intervene in a False Claims Act case filed against Georgia Tech Research Corporation (Georgia Tech) by its Associate...more
4/12/2024
/ Compliance ,
Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Security ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Investigations ,
NIST ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Relators
On April 4, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) published its much-anticipated Notice of Proposed Rule Making for the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act (CIRCIA)....more
We are pleased to bring you our 12th annual Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Review. Our Review provides comprehensive coverage of the most significant civil and criminal enforcement issues facing healthcare providers. Each year, we...more
2/27/2024
/ Anti-Kickback Statute ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud and Abuse ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
Kickbacks ,
Medical Devices ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Physicians ,
Prescription Drugs ,
Qui Tam ,
Settlement ,
Stark Law ,
Telemedicine
Last month, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council proposed new cybersecurity and incident reporting regulations for federal contractors on behalf of the Department of Defense (DoD), the General Services Administration...more
11/29/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Cyber Incident Reporting ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
FBI ,
Federal Contractors ,
General Services Administration (GSA) ,
Incident Response Plans ,
NASA ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management
Earlier this month, the White House released the National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan outlining specific “high impact initiatives” that the federal government will carry out to achieve its cybersecurity...more
7/31/2023
/ Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare ,
National Security ,
Popular ,
Settlement ,
Whistleblower Protection Policies ,
Whistleblowers
In July 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York dismissed a False Claims Act complaint filed by CKD Project, LLC, an entity created for the purpose of filing the lawsuit, which alleged that...more
Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia entered an order critiquing the government’s lack of evidence in a criminal case alleging violations of the Anti-kickback Statute (AKS)...more
On October 17, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily denied three petitions asking the Court to resolve a growing circuit split on the application of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) in False Claims Act lawsuits....more
Last week, we posted about the U.S. Supreme Court’s request for input from the Solicitor General on how False Claim Act complaints should be reviewed by courts.
Currently, the plaintiff-relators in two cases—U.S. ex rel....more
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court solicited input from the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding the scrutiny with which courts should view False Claims Act complaints—particularly those filed by private...more
A relator is a private person or entity who files a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit on behalf of the United States in exchange for receiving a portion any recovery from the defendant. The FCA was enacted in 1863 in response to...more
As discussed in a previous post, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced a new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative to utilize one of the strongest tools in its toolbox—the False Claims Act—to hold entities receiving federal...more
2/16/2022
/ Cybersecurity ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Fraud ,
Healthcare ,
Investigations ,
Popular ,
Qui Tam ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Relators ,
Whistleblowers
To foster open and honest communications with counsel, it is critically important that those communications are protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege. But, not every communication with counsel is...more
On July 16, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama dismissed a putative class action against Sarrell Regional Dental Center for Public Health relating to a 2019 ransomware incident.
Data Incident and...more
On June 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a qui tam False Claims Act (FCA) suit alleging certain physician compensation arrangements at Trinity Health violated the...more
Absent proper precautions, companies may be forced to produce or otherwise disclose third-party forensic reports generated during a post-breach investigation. Historically, when a data breach has occurred, companies have...more
As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, the federal government is preparing to take unprecedented action to curb its effects on the nation’s health and economy by freeing up federal dollars for private...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released its report detailing the settlements and judgments obtained in 2019 from civil cases involving fraud and abuse claims. As in years past, the substantial majority of these...more
1/28/2020
/ Appeals ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dismissals ,
Durable Medical Equipment ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Final Judgment ,
Health Care Providers ,
Kickbacks ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
Pleading Standards ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
Reversal ,
Rule 9(b) ,
Settlement
On July 5, 2019, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of a qui tam lawsuit against several chemical manufacturers that set forth a unusual theory of liability: the relator alleged that the manufacturers...more
8/14/2019
/ Appeals ,
Dismissals ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Failure To Disclose ,
Failure To Pay ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Penalties ,
Qui Tam ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Relators ,
Self-Reporting ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) ,
Voluntary Disclosure
This is the second post of a two-part discussion of FCA pleading standards and discusses the pleading requirements for connecting a fraudulent scheme to the submission of false claims. Read our previous post on the...more
The False Claims Act (FCA) continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for imposing liability on healthcare providers who defraud federal healthcare programs. A significant portion of FCA...more
In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. U.S. ex rel. Escobar confirming the viability of the implied false certification theory in False Claims Act (FCA) cases and...more
After years of investigation and litigation, and on the eve of a highly anticipated trial, the government abandoned its FCA case against ManorCare, the nation’s second-largest operator of skilled nursing homes and assisted...more
11/27/2017
/ Assisted Living Facilities (ALFs) ,
Damages ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Dismissal With Prejudice ,
Expert Witness ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fines ,
Interlocutory Appeals ,
Medical Necessity ,
Medical Records ,
Medicare ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Nursing Homes ,
Reasonable Care ,
Skilled Nursing Facility