How much detail must a plaintiff allege to meet the heightened pleading standards that apply in an FCA case? Appellate courts have taken different approaches but given a chance to address a seeming circuit split, the Supreme...more
The Supreme Court recently denied three petitions for writs of certiorari, opting not to clarify the heightened pleading requirements for allegations of fraud under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). The cases for which certiorari...more
Currently, providers have different risks of potential False Claims Act (“FCA”) liability depending on where they are geographically located due to the difference in the standards required by the U.S. Courts of Appeals...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
On February 26, 2020, Judge Phyllis J. Hamilton of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed certain claims in a putative class action asserting violations of the Securities Act of...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
On December 10, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action asserting claims under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 against a chicken...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit endorsed two controversial interpretations of the Stark Law’s “volume or value” standard, known as the correlation theory and the practice “loss” theory in U.S. ex rel. J. William...more
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
On December 26, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion in United States ex rel. Grant v. United Airlines affirming dismissal of the relator’s False Claims Act (FCA) allegations on the grounds...more
False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries topped $3.7 billion in fiscal year 2017, marking the eighth straight year of annual recoveries in excess of $3 billion. Healthcare cases, including ones involving drug and device companies,...more
In a recent case, the Central District of California held that the CFPB’s claims against a credit repair service under the Telemarketing Sales Rule (“TSR”) must meet Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b)’s heightened pleading...more
Dismissals of class action complaints with prejudice are not as common as dismissals with leave to replead, but a recent decision in the District of New Jersey illustrates the circumstances under which a dismissal with...more
False Claims Act practice is evolving in subtle ways that may particularly affect cases where the federal government does not intervene. Recent decisions help clarify the law’s “first-to-file” rule and who may pursue...more
The Ninth Circuit recently joined the debate on whether the heightened pleading standard of Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) or the more relaxed notice-pleading standard of Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a) applies to pleading loss causation for a...more
On March 31, 2014, in U.S. ex rel. Nathan v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upholding a district...more