Recent Articles

U.S. Department of Justice and Qui Tam Attorneys Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Modern False Claims Act

March 06, 2012 15:23

Recently, Nolan & Auerbach, P.A. partners and nearly three hundred government and qui tam attorneys gathered at the United States Department of Justice, in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the modern False Claims Act. This celebration included presentations by...

Government Leverages Three-Year Tolling Provision to Reach Actions from the 1990s

February 27, 2012 13:52

In 2009, after two decades of divergent readings of the False Claims Act’s statute of limitations provision, Congress considered adopting a straightforward 10-year statute of limitations period for all False Claims Act actions. Unfortunately, this amendment was removed from the legislation before...

Only “Pending” False Claims Act Actions Bar Later-Filed Qui Tam Suits

February 16, 2012 15:16

When Congress enacted the first-to-file bar, within the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. 3730(b)(5), it provided for jurisdiction only to the first qui tam action to raise specific allegations. In doing so, Congress sought to preclude a flood of duplicitous lawsuits. Unfortunately, some courts have...

Filing a Qui Tam Case Because Nobody Is Listening

January 11, 2012 19:55

Oftentimes, qui tam relators first raise their concerns publicly. However, whether it is on the public pulpit or up the chain of command of a dishonest employer, their voices are, too often, tuned out to the detriment of the public fisc. Thankfully, federal and state False Claims Acts provide a...

Whistleblowers Assist States in Recovering Stolen Medicaid Dollars

November 04, 2011 21:22

HHS-OIG posted an interactive map providing a state-by-state view of the health care dollars recovered from Medicaid fraudsters. An accompanying chart provided a more in-depth peek behind the $1.84 billion recovered in 2010. Of particular note, less than 2,000 Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU)...

When Medical Device Companies Fail to Honor Product Warranties

October 04, 2011 13:23

Oftentimes, medical device companies will tout the longevity and reliability of their products. To further seal the deal, companies will tag on an extensive warranty, promising generous credits and rebates should their devices need repair or replacement. However, if a company inappropriately skirts...

Nuanced Judicial Hurdles for Off-Label Marketing Medical Device Cases

August 29, 2011 14:09

While the pharmaceutical industry is slowly starting to appreciate the legal and regulatory constraints to illegal off-label promotions, the medical device industry still appears light years away from fully embracing ethical marketing practices. A prime example of the industry’s wayward behavior is...

FDA Encourages Doctors to Report Off-Label Marketing

July 08, 2011 21:18

The FDA recently touted figures from its Bad Ad Campaign, a campaign designed to encourage doctors, patients and sales professionals to report misleading advertising and promotions in the healthcare industry. The 328 reports submitted over the last year are three times as many as the average of 104...

Leveling the Playing Field for Honest Business Competition

June 03, 2011 20:57

Oftentimes, when people describe the typical whistleblower, they paint a picture of a dissatisfied employee who stands up to his or her wayward employer. While this is certainly true in a lot of False Claims Act cases, there is no requirement that the whistleblower be an employee or a so-called...

U.S. Supreme Court Adds Wrinkle to the Old Public Disclosure Bar

May 26, 2011 19:35

Faced with a split among the federal circuits, the U.S. Supreme Court recently decided to broadly read a key term of the False Claims Act’s public disclosure bar, constructing additional headaches, largely for whistleblowers with cases based on conduct years ago.  Unless a whistleblower can...