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We are attorneys that investigate False Claims Act cases nationwide, including in the states of Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and elsewhere for Medicare fraud, tax fraud, contractor fraud and more against a range of employers including healthcare providers, medical device companies, defense contractors, and pharmaceutical companies. We stand ready to provide a free case evaluation to you; please call us today.

False Claims Act Reports on Cases Filed Against Government

As attorneys that represent Relators and/or whistle blowers under the False Claims Act, we wanted to provide certain descriptions of various cases that have been pending around the country in order to give our readers more of an idea about the types of cases that may show a fraud.  If you have knowledge about a potential fraud against the government for any one of these situations, or any other type of potential fraud, please contact us as soon as possible for a free case evaluation.  This includes regardless if the fraud results in a Tennessee False Claims Act case, a Kentucky False Claims Act case, an Arkansas False Claims Act case, a Mississippi False Claims Act case or a false claims act in another state.

First, a Relator filed a lawsuit against Melodeum Labs of California, Inc. alleging that a laboratory and a multitude of unnamed physicians violated the False Claims Act when the laboratory encouraged the physicians to fraudulently bill federal healthcare programs.   The Relator, who had been employed by a different and competing laboratory, claimed that the defendant lab developed a urine drug testing program to help physicians monitor patient’s medications, and that the defendant’s business model allowed physicians to receive payments based upon their orders for the testing program.  The Relator alleged that because of that arrangement the lab was able to convince physicians to fraudulently bill the government by billing multiple times for single tests, bill for excessive testing and bill for medically unnecessary confirmation testing of negative results.

Another case was filed against Bright Star Educational Group in the Eastern District of California.  A group of five Relators filed a qui tam complaint against an education group and a technology institute, and all Relators were employed by the technology institute and alleged that the defendant submitted false claims to the United States Department of Education for Federal Student Financial Aid loans.  The Relators claim that the defendants entered into a program participation agreements with the Department of Education in which they agreed to comply with applicable regulations by providing recent, truthful job placement rate information to perspective students by not compensating employees based upon their success in securing student enrollments or financial aid benefits for students.  The Relators alleged that the defendants knowingly failed to abide by these terms, in that the requests for Department of Education funds were therefore based on false statements.

A third suit was filed against Kemps Surgical Appliance, Inc. in the Southern District of Ohio when a qui tam Relator filed suit against a medical supply company and its president alleging that the defendant violated a False Claims Act by submitting false claims to the federal government healthcare programs.  More specifically, the Relator alleged that the defendant improperly billed the government for customized surgical devices even though they used “off-the-shelf” devices and for add-on components to devices that were never actually provided.  The Relator also alleged the components were provided which had already been included as part of the base price of the device and that services were provided by unqualified and unsupervised personnel.  The case also included a claim for illegal kickbacks from a medical device manufacturer in exchange for purchasing the manufacturer’s equipment.  The United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss holding that the Relator had adequately put the defendant on notice of the fraudulent allegations against them.

A final case that we wanted to briefly discuss was against Health Spring, Inc. in the Middle District of Tennessee.  There, a Relator filed an eight count qui tam action on behalf of the United States of America and the State of Tennessee alleging fraud and conspiracy under the False Claims Act against two medical centers and an individual who served as the director of both.  The Relator alleged that the defendants violated the anti-kickback statute in the civil anti-inducement act by providing free luxury transportation and meals to Medicare patients without regard to medical necessity in order to improperly induce such patients to use the defendants’ services.  Due to these alleged violations, the Relator claimed that the defendants’ Medicare reimbursement claims for patients who were improperly induced were “false” for False Claims Act purposes.  Due to these alleged violations, the Relator claimed that the defendants’ Medicare reimbursement claims for patients who were improperly induced were “false” for False Claims Act purposes.  The defendants, however, moved to dismiss, and their motion was granted.

If you have any information about a similar type of false claims against the government, please let us know as soon as possible so that we may provide you with a free case evaluation.

THE SCOPE OF FRAUD

Amazingly, some estimates have suggested that approximately 10% of the entire annual United States budget is lost to companies or individuals who are defrauding the government. The United States Federal budget for 2010 was $3.456 billion, meaning around $345.6 million was wrongfully wasted on fraud.

The entities defrauding the government do so in a variety of ways: Medicare or Medicaid fraud whereby they bill the government for services which they never provided or overbill for services that were provided; SEC Trading; Tax Fraud; TARP Fraud; Military/Defense contract fraud; Pharmaceutical Manufacturing;contract fraud involving any number of large government spending programs; or other types public benefit fraud.

HELPING THE PUBLIC.

As a whistleblower attorney, we are interested in speaking with persons willing to make known the truth about company practices and are willing to file a qui tam or whistleblower action. One area in particular we are interested in discussing are lawsuits involving medical device companies where the company is alleged to have overcharged, engaged in kickback programs, and the like. We will nevertheless investigate claims in a variety of areas.

Workers and persons all across the country witness actions at their work that may be unlawful or even corrupt. Unfortunately, some employees and workers feel that they will be fired, terminated, harrassed or punished if they report an unlawful or corrupt action. These reporters, however, are protected by the law as a Whistleblower and can receive compensation because of the False Claims Act or the Medicaid False Claims Act. If you have reported actions that may be fraudulent, then you should talk to a Whistleblower or qui tam lawyer about your facts.

Whistleblowers help the government to get back billions of dollars each year with the help of the False Claims Act. In fact, fraudulent Medicaid claims are also caught by whistleblowers having the Medicaid False Claims Act on their side. If you report a false claim or fraudulent action to the government, then the government will give you, the whistleblower, a part of the money that gets recovered. This is because of qui tam requirements. Qui Tam means that a person files a lawsuit for the king and also for him or herself. The phrase is qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso in hac parte sequitur, or, “he who sues for the king as well for himself.”

These requirements and lawsuits were made popular during the Civil War when many people were getting away with fraudulent actions against the government. In 1986, the False Claims Act was amended to raise the total compensation given to people who reported fraudulent actions, or whistleblowers. If a whistleblower works with a lawyer then it may be possible for them to get three times the amount the government would get in damages and also get additional compensation for general fines.

TYPES OF CASES

The most common situations that could form the basis of a Qui Tam action include:

• Submitting a false or fraudulent record, bill or statement to the government in order to fraudulently obtain money such as reporting a medical service that was never performed for Medicare or Medicad;
• Conspiring with a third party to submit or present have a false or fraudulent claim to the government;
• Withholding property of the government with the intent to defraud or conceal the property from the government;
• Fraudulently buying property of the government from someone not authorized to sell that property; and
• Making a false statement to fraudulently avoid paying money to the government or to avoid delivering property to the government.

FOR HELP, PLEASE CONTACT US.

We help whistleblowers on a contingency basis, meaning there is no fee charged for our work unless there is a recovery. We also front any and all expenses. No matter where you are located — we will represent you. We will come to you, you will not have to come to us.

Attorneys in our firm and attorneys that we work with on Whistleblower, Qui Tam, False Claims Act cases have represented a host of persons making claims, for violations of federal tax law, Medicare law and more.

For more information, please contact our team of whitsleblower and qui tam attorneys today.

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