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By McDermott Will & Emery on Apr 4, 2016
Posted In Knowledge/Scienter
After granting a new trial based on error in a jury instruction and sua sponte re-opening summary judgment, on March 31, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama granted summary judgment to AseraCare on all remaining counts in U.S. ex rel. Paradies v. AseraCare, Inc. The outcome is significant because it...
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Opening Brief Filed Before Fifth Circuit in Appeal of Largest False Claims Act Judgment
By McDermott Will & Emery on Mar 30, 2016
Posted In Materiality
Trinity Industries filed its appeal brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in U.S. ex rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries on March 21, 2016, appealing “the largest judgment in the 150-year history of the False Claims Act.” In its appeal brief, Trinity argues that the relator’s case failed every element of...
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Seventh Circuit Finds Public Disclosure Bar Precludes Jurisdiction in CTA Case
By McDermott Will & Emery on Mar 8, 2016
Posted In Public Disclosure Bar
In a February 29, 2016, decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that the public disclosure bar precluded a relator, a government watchdog agency, from successfully bringing a False Claims Act (FCA) suit against the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA). Cause of Action v. Chicago Transit Authority, No. 15-1143, 2016 U.S. App....
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When a Bar is Not a Bar: First Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing of First-To-File Bar Ruling
By McDermott Will & Emery on Jan 28, 2016
Posted In Pharmaceuticals
After a First Circuit Court of Appeals panel restored a relator’s False Claims Act (FCA) suit against PharMerica, a long-term care pharmacy, the First Circuit denied the company’s petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc on Monday, January 25, 2016 in U.S. ex rel. Gadbois v. PharMerica Corp. As a result, the relator will have another day...
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Government’s Case Dismissed Due to Inability to Allege False Claims With Particularity
By McDermott Will & Emery on Jan 26, 2016
Posted In Rule 9(b) Particularity
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently dismissed the government’s False Claims Act case against Liberty Ambulance Service, Inc. for failure to plead its claims with sufficient particularity. The court in United States ex rel. Pelletier, No. 3:11-cv-00587 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 7, 2016), held that while the government’s allegations plausibly...
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FDA Settles Exparel Marketing Lawsuit, Signaling Change for Off-Label FCA Cases
By McDermott Will & Emery on Jan 11, 2016
Posted In Pharmaceuticals
Last summer, we reported on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York’s significant decision in Amarin Pharma, Inc. et al. v. Food and Drug Administration, et al., holding that a drug company may engage in “truthful and non-misleading speech” about off-label uses of an approved drug without the threat of a misbranding...
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Claims Against Individuals Fail in Northern District of Illinois
By McDermott Will & Emery on Dec 21, 2015
Posted In Anti-Kickback Statute / Stark Law, Rule 9(b) Particularity
On December 15, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed Relator’s claims against two individual defendants in United States ex rel. Sibley v. A Plus Physicians Billing Service, Inc., No. 13C 7733, 2015 WL 8780548 (N. D. Ill. Dec. 15, 2015). The court granted the individuals’ (Laurie Gentile and Eric...
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Northern District of Georgia finds Fresenius did not violate the FCA
By McDermott Will & Emery on Nov 10, 2015
Posted In Knowledge/Scienter
On October 30, 2015, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc.’s (Fresenius’s) motion for summary judgment in United States ex rel. Saldivar v. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, Inc., No. 1:10-CV-1614-AT. The district court, in a 108-page decision, found that the undisputed evidence showed that no...
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Re-Trial Order in AseraCare Confirms that Differences in Clinical Judgment Alone Insufficient to Establish Falsity
By McDermott Will & Emery on Nov 6, 2015
Posted In Knowledge/Scienter
As we previously reported, in the FCA case against hospice-provider AseraCare, U.S. ex rel. Paradies v. AseraCare, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama granted AseraCare’s motion for a new trial based on error in instructing the jury during the falsity phase of the trial (The trial was bifurcated into falsity...
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Court Orders Re-Trial of AseraCare Falsity Phase Based on Jury Instruction Errors
By McDermott Will & Emery on Oct 29, 2015
Posted In Knowledge/Scienter, Medical Necessity
We said we would provide updates based on any developments in U.S. ex rel. Paradies v. AseraCare, Inc., and we are reporting earlier than anticipated. Instead of moving the case along to the second phase of the bifurcated trial to address scienter, the court granted AseraCare’s motion for a new trial on the issue of...
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