PHILADELPHIA, PA – The United States’ False Claims Act (“FCA”) suit against Berkeley Heartlab, Inc.; BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, Inc.; BlueWave principles, Floyd Calhoun Dent, III, and Robert Bradford Johnson; and former Health Diagnostics Laboratories (“HDL”) President, Latonya Mallory will proceed to discovery. On March 28, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina denied defendants’ various motions to dismiss the United States’ Complaint in Intervention.
In addition to preserving the federal FCA claims against the remaining defendants, the Court denied motions by Dent, Johnson, and Mallory to dismiss related claims under various state FCAs and state insurance laws claims brought by relators Scarlett Lutz and Kayla Webster. Lutz and Webster filed one of three qui tam actions alleging a kickback scheme. The cases were consolidated in the District of South Carolina, and the United States intervened to prosecute the federal FCA claims.
The lawsuit alleges a nationwide scheme in which physicians were offered and paid kickbacks to order often-medically-unnecessary tests from diagnostic laboratories (Berkeley HeartLab, Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. [“HDL”], and Singulex, Inc.), through a marketing agent (BlueWave). Federal and state governmental healthcare programs and private insurers then reimbursed the laboratories for those impermissible payments.
HDL and Singulex settled with the United States in October 2014. HDL agreed to pay a fixed settlement of more than $50 million, with the potential of $100 million if certain contingencies occur. Singulex agreed to pay at least $1.5 million, and as much as $13.1 million, depending on the occurrence of contingencies outlined in the settlement agreement.
The Court also rejected Dent, Johnson, and Mallory’s arguments that Lutz and Webster’s claims against them were barred by the federal FCA’s so-called first-to-file rule. Under that rule, a relator may not pursue FCA claims if his complaint alleges the same material elements of a fraudulent scheme already identified in another relator’s complaint. Read More
Articles in This Issue:
Mechanic’s Liens and Bankruptcy: Surviving Automatic Stay
Seven Cyber Risk Stakeholders and Why They Matter
The Spearin Doctrine: Continued Relevance and Developing Distinctions
If It’s Not Broke, We Won’t Pay to Fix It
Constitutional Limitation of Union Picketing of Construction Site
What the Yates Memo Means for Federal Criminal and Civil Corporate Investigations
Related Information:
construction_legal_edge,_spring_2016.pdf Read More
Marc S. Raspanti will present “So You Want to Represent a Whistleblower: What Do you Need to Know to Succeed” regarding the ethics of representing whistleblowers, at the Pennsylvania Bar Institutes’ 22nd Annual Health Law Institute in Philadelphia. Read More
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Michael A. Morse, partner at the law firm Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP, will present at the 20th Annual Compliance Institute in Las Vegas, NV. He will discuss “False Claims Act Developments” at 9:00 am on Sunday, April 17, 2016.
The 2016 Compliance Institute, presented by the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), will take place from April 17-20 at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Mr. Morse will be part of a panel discussing the fundamentals of the False Claim Act’s liability, damages, procedures, and whistleblower provisions from the viewpoint of the compliance official. They will also discuss whistleblower, government and defense perspectives on the filing, investigation, litigation and settlement of qui tam cases. As an attendee at the Compliance Institute, you will be attaining knowledge from the most comprehensive conference for today’s healthcare compliance professional.
Mr. Morse serves as Chair of the Qui Tam Practice Group and also is a member of the Government Enforcement, Compliance, and White Collar Litigation Group as well as the Health Care and Litigation Practice Groups at Pietragallo. He is a former prosecutor who has developed a nationwide practice representing whistleblowers under federal and state false claims acts. Mr. Morse has served as counsel for the lead whistleblowers in a number of the most successful false claims cases in United States history, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries for federal and state taxpayers.
Mr. Morse currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee. He has been selected as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer for 2013, 2014, and 2015 in the area of White Collar Criminal Defense. Mr. Morse received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from Emory University Law School.
For more information regarding the upcoming Health Care Compliance Institute or to register, please visit http://www.compliance-institute.org/. Read More
PHILADELPHIA, PA – Pamela Coyle Brecht, partner at the law firm Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP, will present at the 20th Annual Compliance Institute in Las Vegas, NV. She will speak on “Managed Care Fraud: Enforcement and Compliance” on Tuesday, April 19, 2016 at 11:00 am.
The four-day event takes place from April 17-20 at the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. The 2016 Compliance Institute, presented by the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA), will help attendees better understand the chaos of healthcare reform, hospital physician alignment, compliance effectiveness, and HIPAA Privacy/Data Breach; which are adding complexity to the regulatory compliance challenges facing healthcare professionals today. Professionals such as healthcare specialists, risk managers, attorneys, regulators, physicians and more will learn how recent laws, regulations, and enforcement actions will affect compliance programs.
Ms. Brecht is an active member of the Qui Tam Practice Group at Pietragallo. She is also experienced in employment law, internal investigations, white collar criminal litigation, and complex health care litigation. She litigates some of the most complex Qui Tam cases filed in the United States. Her cases have included alleged fraud by a large multi-state Medicaid managed care contractor, FCA violations by three of the largest hospital corporations in the country, and complex financial relationships among healthcare providers, as well as pharmaceutical fraud. She is also part of the team that is advancing one of the first national cases alleging fraud against the Medicare Part D program.
Ms. Brecht is a 1988, cum laude, graduate of Villanova University and a 1991 graduate of Temple University School of Law. While attending Temple University School of Law, Ms. Brecht served as a member of the Temple Law Review and received honors for Distinguished Class Performance. Ms. Brecht is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association, the American Health Lawyers Association, the Health Care Compliance Association, the Federal Bar Association Qui Tam Section, the Brehon Law Society, and the Justinian Law Society. Read More
Articles In This Issue:
Philadelphia Bar Association Welcomes Their 89th Chancellor, Gaetan J. Alfano
Are You FCPA Compliant?
Faush v. Tuesday Morning
What the Yates Memo Means for Federal Criminal and Civil Corporate Investigations
Related Information:
Winter_2016_Newsletter.pdf Read More
PITTSBURGH, PA – Michael A. Morse of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP has been named a co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Federal Courts Committee for the 2016 calendar year. He had previously served as Vice Chair of the committee in 2015.
The Philadelphia Bar Association, founded in 1802, is the oldest association of lawyers in the United States. The Federal Courts Committee serves as an informational liaison between the federal courts covering the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the members of the bar association. The committee also organizes the Federal Bench/Bar Conference held each spring, which not only educates the bar with regard to practice in the courts, but also provides a forum for the interchange of ideas among the bench and bar.
Mr. Morse, a former Assistant District Attorney, serves as Chair of the Qui Tam Practice Group at Pietragallo. He is also a member of the Government Enforcement, Compliance, and White Collar Litigation Group as well as the Health Care and Litigation Practice Groups. He has developed a nationwide practice representing whistleblowers, under federal and state false claims acts, who report fraud committed against the government by corporations and individuals. He has represented whistleblowers in some of the most ground-breaking false claims cases in the country, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in recoveries for federal and state taxpayers. Mr. Morse received his B.A. from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from Emory University School of Law. Read More
Marc S. Raspanti will teach the American Law Institute CLE telephone seminar/audio webcast titled “Litigating a False Claims Whistleblower Case.” Read More
PHILADELPHIA, PA (January 26, 2016)- Marc S. Raspanti, partner at the law firm Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP, will present to the American Law Institute CLE through an audio webcast and telephone seminar on February 3rd, 2016 from 12:00-1:00 p.m. ET. He will speak on “Litigating a False Claims Whistleblower Case.”
Mr. Raspanti will discuss the complex process of False Claims Act litigation, alongside Meredith S. Auten, Partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP. These highly skilled litigators will provide information on how to successfully manage FCA cases from pre-trial through trial.
Mr. Raspanti, who is a former prosecutor, is recognized as one of the most successful, skilled and experienced qui tam attorneys in the United States. Since 1989, Mr. Raspanti has litigated many of the most complex and important cases in the history of the federal False Claims Act. He has served as lead counsel for whistleblowers in false claims cases that have resulted in over $2 billion in recoveries for federal and state taxpayers. He focuses his practice on federal and state qui tam litigation, white collar criminal defense, criminal and civil health care fraud defense, and complex civil litigation.
Mr. Raspanti received his B.A. from Villanova University and his J.D. from Temple University School of Law. He frequently speaks, writes, lectures, and comments on white collar, qui tam, and health care fraud issues throughout the country.
For more information regarding the upcoming event or to register, please visit https://www.ali-cle.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=courses.course&course_code=TSXI04 Read More
Pamela C. Brecht will present at the 3rd Annual Advanced Forum on False Claims & Qui Tam Enforcement in New York, speaking on “Best Practices to Facilitate Global Settlements.” Read More
