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Fraud Materiality

Fraud is the making of false representations or engaging in deceptive behavior in order to unlawfully secure financial or personal gain. 
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

False Claims Act - 2023 Year in Review

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

The Haunting in the Cornfield: Relators’ Qui Tam Claim Confirmed Dead by the Eighth Circuit

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Bipartisan Senate Bill Seeks To Weaken the False Claims Act’s Materiality Standard

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

Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto LLP

Bipartisan Amendments Introduced to Further Strengthen the False Claims Act

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

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

Recent False Claims Act Decisions to Know

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

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

False Claims Act Fundamentals: Elements of the False Claims Act

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

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

False Claims Act - 2021 Year in Review

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

King & Spalding

Senator Grassley Introduces Bipartisan Legislation to Change the Application of the FCA’s Materiality Standard

King & Spalding on

On July 26, 2021, a bipartisan group of legislators led by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley introduced a pair of bills that would represent the most significant changes to the FCA in more than a decade. In broad strokes, the...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Eight Years Later: “Speculative” and “Straightforward” FCA Allegations Against Walmart Dismissed

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

Walmart successfully ended eight years of protracted litigation under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) on June 4, 2021, when the Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of Medicare and Medicaid fraud allegations against the major...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

“Would You Rather…” – Escobar’s Demanding Materiality Standard or Actual Causation?

According to a recent decision in United States ex rel. Scollick v. Narula, Case No. 14-cv-1339 (D.D.C. Nov. 6, 2020), the fraudulent inducement theory of False Claims Act (“FCA”) liability does not require plaintiffs to...more

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

False Claims Act 2020 Year in Review

This year saw substantial activity in FCA settlements and litigated court cases. Although no single case or development dominated the discourse this year, several important court decisions were issued, including two that may...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Channel Reinforces that Akorn is the Ceiling not the Floor for MAE Terminations

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

2018’s landmark decision Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG marked the first time that the Chancery Court upheld a buyer’s use of a Material Adverse Effect (MAE) clause to terminate a merger agreement. However, the Court’s...more

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP

The Delaware Court of Chancery Rejects Termination of Merger Agreement Based on Material Adverse Effect

In Channel Medsystems, Inc. v. Boston Scientific Corporation, the Delaware Court of Chancery rejected an attempt by Boston Scientific to terminate and thus avoid consummating a merger agreement with Channel on the grounds...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Escobar in Action: Physician-owners’ fraud claims against hospital defeated in Fifth Circuit appeal for lack of materiality

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

Following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), which placed new limits on physician-owned hospitals, St. Luke’s Health System (“System”) took action to change one of its hospital’s ownership structures through a...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

False Claims Act: New Developments for an Old Law

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The past 18 months have been a (relatively) wild time for the False Claims Act - on the books since 1863. In FY2018 the Department of Justice obtained more than $2.8 billion in settlements and judgments from cases involving...more

Miles & Stockbridge P.C.

California District Court Issues First False Claims Act Decision Involving the DFARS Cybersecurity Rule

As predicted, a recent decision from the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of California is the first sign of a new, and potentially enormous wave, of Civil False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-33 (“FCA”) actions...more

Bennett Jones LLP

Summary of Actions Against Exxon Mobil for Securities Fraud

Bennett Jones LLP on

Since 2013, investors in Exxon Mobil Corporation ("Exxon") stock have consistently shown an interest in understanding how the effects of climate change will impact their investment. Over the years, in response to these...more

Hogan Lovells

False Claims Act: 2018 and the road ahead

Hogan Lovells on

The pace of False Claims Act (FCA) litigation remained furious over the past year. Companies (and individuals) in all sectors of the economy continue to face the ever-present threat of FCA enforcement whenever they do...more

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC

Chris Lazarini Analyzes Link Between Alleged Fraud and Economic Harm to Shareholders

Bass, Berry & Sims PLC on

Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini analyzed a case in which a group of shareholders claimed misleading statements in a press release caused them to sell stock early and lose money in a subsequent bidding war. The...more

Morgan Lewis

Federal Court Strikes Massive False Claims Act Verdict Following Landmark Escobar Ruling

Morgan Lewis on

The ruling in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. Escobar "rejects a system of government traps, zaps, and zingers that permits the government to retain the benefit of a substantially conforming good or service but to recover...more

Alston & Bird

Implied False Certification Liability Under the False Claims Act: How the Materiality Standard Offers Protection after Escobar

Alston & Bird on

The False Claims Act (FCA), initially enacted in 1863 during the Civil War, was sponsored by the Lincoln administration to curtail the rampant fraud and excessive profiteering being perpetuated by government contractors, who,...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

Court Dispenses With Fraud Defense Based on Gumball Victims’ Disclaimers

The Chicklets and Runts vending machine at your local car repair shop last decade may have been one piece of a fraudulent enterprise that ensnarled roughly 7,000 victims. As CEO of Vendstar, Defendant Edward (“Ned”) Weaver...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

"Escobar and the Implied Certification Theory: Initial Cases Raise the Bar on Materiality in False Claims Act Litigation"

On June 16, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar1 (Escobar) unanimously upheld the implied certification theory of False Claims Act (FCA) liability and strengthened...more

Troutman Pepper

Materiality Is the New Condition of Payment: The Implied False Certification Theory After Escobar

Troutman Pepper on

The Supreme Court has made it clear that, even at the pleadings stage, relators (or the government) must plead facts to support materiality with plausibility and particularity. For False Claims Act (FCA) defendants who...more

Sherman & Howard L.L.C.

SCOTUS Gives Fed Contractors Mixed Bag

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion that refines and re-defines liability for contractors accused of defrauding the Federal Government under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) in Universal Health Services, Inc. v....more

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