The Department of Justice, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced today the settlement of two qui tam cases filed in Tampa and Philadelphia. One of the two whistleblower cases was filed in the Middle District of Florida… Read more »
Pietragallo partner Pamela Coyle Brecht will present “The False Claims Act Update” at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s (PBI) A Day in Health Law program on October 28, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A Day on Health Law is a one-day, six-hour spin-off of PBI’s annual Health Law Institute. The Health Law Institute is “The event of… Read more »
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which was signed into law today allocates $350 billion for a Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) meant to provide immediate relief to small businesses (less than 500 employees) and other eligible entities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Process: The process for securing a PPP loan… Read more »
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Act) was signed by President Trump on March 18, 2020. The bill becomes law on April 2, 2020.Under the new law, certain employees will be eligible to receive paid sick and family leave through December 31, 2020 for leave related to COVID 19. Relevant portions related to employment law… Read more »
Unfortunately fraud, waste, abuse, and of course, criminal activity do not take a vacation during a pandemic. In fact, targets and methods of fraudsters can and will evolve much like a virus. When the normal checks and balances that have been put in place by compliance, general counsel, security, internal audit, and other mechanisms that… Read more »
The Pennsylvania Bar Institute will be holding it’s next Cyberlaw Update program on April 27, 2020 in Pittsburgh. During this program, attendees will discuss: experiences with new state and EU regulations on privacy, current security dangers and data breach responses, the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud and other technologies in business, electronic communication and… Read more »
Each year, the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) hosts one of the largest mock trial competitions in the nation. The PBA/YLD Mock Trial Competition gives more than 300 high school student teams from across the state the opportunity to act as lawyers and witnesses in simulated civil and criminal trials… Read more »
As published in The New York Law Journal An amendment to New York’s data breach notification law, the Stop Hacks and Improve Electronic Data Security Act (the SHIELD Act), will take effect on March 21, 2020. The amendment to the SHIELD Act creates stricter data security over confidential personal information and breach notification requirements to… Read more »
On Jan. 22, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion ordering the permanent sealing of a grand jury report relating to allegations of sexual abuse and a potential coverup. In the opinion, In re Grand Jury Investigation No. 18, the Supreme Court concluded that because the report did not meet the Investigating Grand Jury… Read more »
Can I Just Be John Doe? A review of remaining anonymous in False Claims Act cases There is strong appeal in the concept of remaining anonymous for many whistleblowers but unless you can prove both a fear of severe harm, and that the fear of severe harm is reasonable, two recent Circuit Court decisions illustrate how… Read more »