On January 2, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced the first settlement involving potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) Security Rule involving less than 500 patients. The $50,000 settlement resulted from a breach of unprotected electronic protected health information (“ePHI”) on a stolen laptop. The HIPAA… Read more »
On December 20, 2012, in the first major decision regarding the massive Medicare Part D program under the Federal False Claims Act (“FCA”), Judge Ronald Buckwalter denied CVS-Caremark’s motion to dismiss in U.S. ex rel. Spay v. CVS-Caremark, Corp., 2:09-cv-04672-RB (E.D. Pa). The whistleblower lawsuit was filed by an industry insider and licensed pharmacist, Anthony Spay, who alleged that… Read more »
When it comes to certifying interlocutory appeals, if the government says it is so, then it must be so. At least that it is the conclusion reached by the Second Circuit in a Per Curiamorder denying a motion to dismiss the government’s appeal of a suppression order handed down by Judge Dora L. Irizarry in the… Read more »
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed a $20 million criminal restitution order, finding that the order exceeded the mandate of its prior remand of the case to the district court. United States v. Pileggi, No. 10-5273 (4th Cir. January 2, 2013). With that decision, the court vacated the restitution order and remanded the case with… Read more »
Background In A.D.P. v. ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Co., 54 A.3d 813 (N.J. Super. A.D. 2012), a 29-year employee disclosed that she was an alcoholic and that she intended to check into rehabilitation. ExxonMobil had in place an Alcohol and Drug Use Policy (the “Policy”) which stated that “being unfit for work because of use of… Read more »
On December 10, 2012, DOJ announced that British contractor APTx Vehicle Systems Limited had entered into an agreement to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Coalition Provisional Authority that governed Iraq from April 2003 to June 2004, the government of Iraq and JP Morgan Chase Bank. The case centers on a… Read more »
DOJ announced yesterday that it has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with Standard Chartered Bank, a financial institution headquartered in London, to resolve potential charges relating to Standard Chartered moving more than $200 million through the U.S. financial system on behalf of sanctioned Iranian, Sudanese, Libyan and Burmese entities, in violation of the… Read more »
Michael A. Morse will present, “False Claims and Overpayment Rule,” at AHLA’s Audits, Self-Disclosures, Recoupment & False Claims Bootcamp Webinar Series, Part II in Philadelphia, PA on December 7, 2012.
After having been convicted of criminal violations of the Clean Water Act, conspiracy and obstruction of justice following a federal jury trial earlier this year, John Tuma, the former owner and general manager of Arkla Disposal Services, Inc., was sentenced on Wednesday to 60 months in prison, three years of supervised release and a $100,000… Read more »
A New York company violated federal labor law by firing an employee who made vulgar and sexually offensive comments during the run-up to a union-decertification vote, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) has ruled. The decision, Fresenius USA Mfg., Inc. & Int’l Bhd. of Teamsters, Local 445, 358 NLRB No. 138 (Sept. 19, 2012), carries important implications… Read more »