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
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 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
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, 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
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
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
On December 2, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia granted a motion to dismiss a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit brought by the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia, which alleged that a...more
On October 28, a majority of members on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 15-7 to advance to the full Senate a bipartisan bill that would make a number of amendments to the False Claims Act (“FCA”), including one that...more
In a move that threatens to undermine some key defenses to liability under the False Claims Act, a bipartisan group of senators voted to advance the False Claims Amendments Act of 2021 (SB 2428) out of the Senate Judiciary...more
The Senate Judiciary Committee is currently considering amendments to the False Claims Act, a law originally passed during the Civil War that was modernized in 1986. The debate in the Judiciary Committee is being closely...more
On July 26, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced a long-promised bill to amend the False Claims Act (FCA). Not-so-creatively entitled the False Claims Act Amendments Act of 2021 (S.B. 2428), the proposed legislation is...more
On July 22, 2021, a bipartisan group of senators led by Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the False Claims Amendments Act of 2021 (S.B. 2428). As the name suggests, the bill proposes certain amendments to the False Claims Act,...more
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
The False Claims Amendments Act of 2021 (S. 2428), introduced late last month by a bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), could make defending False Claims Act (FCA) cases substantially more...more
Last week, a bipartisan group of Senators led by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) introduced two pieces of proposed legislation, one of which would amend the False Claims Act (FCA) and the other of which would amend the...more
On Monday, Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the False Claims Amendments Act of 2021, section 2 of which would provide that defendants “may rebut an argument of materiality” as to an allegedly false claim submitted...more
During a question-and-answer session following his opening remarks at the Federal Bar Association Qui Tam Conference earlier this year, Senator Chuck Grassley said that the government needed to “come down with a sledgehammer,...more
How should a court evaluate the FCA’s materiality requirement when the government’s ability to deny claims is constrained? According to a recent decision from the Eleventh Circuit, the court should “broadly” consider the...more
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
Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed a qui tam action against Defendants Pioneer Education, LLC, Pioneer Education Manager, Inc., Jolie Health & Beauty Academy, and Joseph Visconti...more
The Situation: The Supreme Court's ruling in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. U.S. ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016), opened the door to more materiality defenses under the False Claims Act ("FCA"), but without making...more
Earlier this month, the United States Department of Justice issued a press release to announce recoveries of over $3 billion from False Claims Act cases in FY2019. In making the announcement, Assistant Attorney General Jody...more
Editors’ Note: This is the fourth in our start-of-year series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the coming year. Our previous entry discussed anti-corruption trends in 2020. Up next: a look...more