False Claims Act Healthcare Fraud Settlement: A chain of opiate addiction recovery centers, headquartered in Harrodsburg, Ky., and a Russell Springs, Ky., clinical laboratory, along with two physician owners, agreed to pay the U.S. Government $15.75 million to resolve False Claims Act civil allegations that they fraudulently billed federal health care programs (Medicare and Medicaid ) for medically unnecessary and excessive urine tests.

Read more: http://www.justice.gov/usao/kye/news/2014/2014-02-10-premiertox.html

FCA News: The U.S. Justice Department announced that it secured $4.9 billion in False Claims Act recoveries in civil cases involving fraud against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2012, according to Tony West, Acting Associate Attorney General, and Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.  DOJ noted that this figure constitutes a record recovery for a single year, eclipsing the previous record by more than $1.7 billion, and brings total recoveries under the False Claims Act since January 2009 to $13.3 billion – which is the largest four-year total in the Justice Department’s history and more than a third of total recoveries since the act was amended 26 years ago in 1986.

Read more here

Legal Ruling: The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals holds that: the South Florida Water Management District was an arm of the State of Florida under the Eleventh Amendment immunity analysis and therefore is not a “person” for purposes of False Claims Act Definitions, 31 U.S.C.S. § 3729.  This False Claims Act qui tam lawsuit is captioned  United States ex rel. Lesinski v. South Florida Water Management District, No. 12-16082, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 14 (11th Cir. January 2, 2014).

Legal Ruling: In a case alleging that shipper DHL charged the Government for jet fuel surcharges on ground deliveries, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that the relator’s failure to comply with a 180-day notice rule for administrative actions before the Surface Transportation Board (STB) did not bar a shipping-rate challenge before a federal court when brought pursuant to the False Claims Act. The district court had concluded  that it did and dismissed the action. Without deciding how the 180-day rule applies to other kinds of suits brought in court, the Second Circuit vacated on the ground that the 180-day rule cannot apply to a qui tam action under the FCA.

This False Claims Act lawsuit is captioned United States v. DHL Express (USA), Inc., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 2164 (2d Cir. N.Y. Feb. 5, 2014).

False Claims Act Legal Ruling: Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals holds that Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) requires a relator to provide some representative examples of defendant’s fraudulent conduct, specifying the time, place, and content of their acts and the identity of the actors, and affirming dismissal of complaint for failing to identify even one example of an actual false claim submitted to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for reimbursement.  This False Claims Act lawsuit is captioned United States ex rel. Dunn v. North Mem’l Health Care, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 413 (8th Cir. Minn. 2014).

Settlement Announced: $30 million Healthcare Fraud (Nursing Home Kickbacks) settlement. Contract therapy providers RehabCare Group Inc., RehabCare Group East Inc. and Rehab Systems of Missouri and management company Health Systems Inc. have agreed to pay $30 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by engaging in a kickback scheme related to the referral of nursing home business, the Justice Department announced January 17, 2014. Additionally, as part of this settlement, the entities have agreed to restructure their business arrangement. Read more here: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/January/14-civ-060.html