A former employee of Great Dane Petroleum Contractors, Inc. a full-service Pollutant Control and General Contractor based in Florida, alleged in a recently-filed lawsuit that the company misused nearly $3 million in Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) funds. See Rucker v. Great Dane Petroleum Contractors, Inc., No. 21-cv-207 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 10, 2021). As another wave of applications for PPP funds come in, employers must remain...
On February 22, 2021, the United States Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split regarding the proper standard under which False Claims Act (“FCA”) claims in the medical context should be reviewed. See Care Alternatives v. United States, No. 20-371, 2021 U.S. LEXIS 915 (Feb. 22, 2021). The Court’s decision leaves open the question of what constitutes “falsity” under the FCA and opens the...
On February 3, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah granted a motion for attorneys’ fees against Plaintiff Kelly Sorenson (“Sorenson”), finding that the claims Sorenson asserted against his former employer under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) were “clearly frivolous” and compensable under 31 U.S.C. § 3730(d)(4). United States ex rel. Sorenson v. Wadsworth Bros. Constr. Co., No. 2:16-cv-875, 2021 U.S. Dist....
On January 14, 2021, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) issued its annual press release highlighting its recoveries from False Claims Act (“FCA”) enforcement over the last fiscal year. Total recoveries in FY2020 exceeded $2.2 billion, with the majority—$1.8 billion—of those recoveries coming from the healthcare industry. These totals are down substantially from FY2019, in which total recoveries exceeded $3 billion with $2.6 billion...
On January 12, 2021, the Eastern District of California entered into a civil settlement with a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) borrower and its CEO to resolve allegations of fraud. The settlement stemmed from a $350,000 PPP loan that SlideBelts Inc., an internet retail company, received even though it was a prohibited borrower as a debtor in bankruptcy. This is the first civil settlement for PPP-related...
On January 8, 2021, in the first appellate decision of the year addressing a False Claims Act case, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the summary judgment dismissal of relators’ claims that a manufacturer of allergenic extracts violated the FCA. Skibo v. Greer Labs., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 508 (Jan. 8, 2021) (per curiam). Like most FCA cases that arrive in the United States Courts of Appeals,...
The Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) most recent settlement with Indivior Solutions, Inc., Indivior Inc., and Indivior plc (together, “Indivior”) demonstrates not only that the DOJ is continuing its pursuit of claims and settlements related to the opioid crisis, but also that the DOJ is searching for creative penalties beyond large monetary payouts. In a July 24, 2020 press release, the DOJ announced a $600 million...
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 (collectively, “the Academy”) alleging violations of the False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. § 3729-33. United States ex rel. Lampkin v. Pioneer Educ., LLC, No. 16-cv-1817, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136022...
As has been emphasized with the disclosure of the “Granston Memo” in January 2018 and several cases since, the government may request dismissal of a qui tam action filed under the False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., in certain circumstances, and even over the relator’s objection and when the government has declined to intervene. Recently, the Southern District of New York...
Shortly before COVID-19 halted jury proceedings across the United States, a Mississippi jury sided with the Government to return a $10.8 million verdict against Stone County Hospital and several affiliates for what the jury found were false Medicare claims submitted in violation of the False Claims Act (“FCA”). United States ex rel. Aldridge v. Corporate Management, Inc., et al., Case No. 1:16cv369-HTW-LRA (S.D. Miss.). In...
