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The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) became the first federal agency to increase FCA penalties pursuant to the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (Budget Act), which was signed into law last November. The penalties announced by the RRB nearly doubled the prior penalty levels, with the minimum penalty skyrocketing from $5,500 to $10,781 and the maximum penalty from $11,000 to $21,563. As we covered here, the Budget Act amended the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 (Inflation Adjustment Act) to require federal agencies to increase civil monetary penalties imposed by the FCA as a “catch up adjustment” to compensate for inflation. The Budget Act also requires agencies to make annual adjustments to penalties in the future.
Continue Reading Agency Announces Rule Doubling FCA Penalties

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we will take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine recent court decisions considering the level of specificity required of a relator under Rule 9(b) in pleading the alleged FCA fraud scheme.

While analyzing the circumstances of fraud is necessarily a case-by-case analysis, courts have applied decidedly different approaches to examining certain components of a fraudulent scheme, including the “who” and “when” requirements.Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Rule 9(b) and the Pleading of the Alleged Fraud Scheme

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we will take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine recent court decisions that have required a relator only to plead a reliable indicia of the submission of false claims to satisfy Rule 9(b).

Relators in a pair of cases from the Middle District of Florida succeeded in satisfying Rule 9(b) under a relaxed pleading standard. In U.S. ex rel. Space Coast Medical Associates, LLP, 94 F. Supp. 3d 1250 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 6, 2015), the district court held relators had pleaded “sufficient indicia of reliability that claims were submitted” by alleging “particularized knowledge of the Defendants’ billing process and of alleged fraudulent bills,” as well as “individual Medicare patients who received treatment.”Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Rule 9(b) and the Pleading of Actual Claims Under a Relaxed Standard

The FCA continues to be the federal government’s primary civil enforcement tool for investigating allegations that healthcare providers or government contractors defrauded the federal government. In the coming weeks, we will take a closer look at recent legal developments involving the FCA. This week, we examine recent court decisions requiring relators to plead actual claims to satisfy the requirements of Rule 9(b) in order to avoid dismissal.

In the past, the First Circuit has shifted between requiring the identification of a specific false claim and applying a more flexible standard. Compare U.S. ex rel. Karvelas v. Melrose-Wakefield Hosp., 360 F.3d 220, 232 (1st Cir. 2004) (applying strict standard) abrogated on other grounds, Allison Engine Co. v. U.S. ex rel. Sanders, 553 U.S. 662 (2008), with U.S. ex rel. Duxbury v. Ortho Biotech Prods., L.P., 579 F.3d 13, 29 (1st Cir. 2009) (applying flexible standard). Last year, the First Circuit explained its approach as requiring “relators to connect allegations of fraud to particular false claims for payment, rather than a fraudulent scheme in the abstract.”Continue Reading FCA Deeper Dive: Rule 9(b) and the Pleading of Actual Claims

Earlier this year, Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates issued new guidance outlining the DOJ’s increased focus on individual accountability during civil and criminal investigations of corporate wrongdoing. The principles announced in the “Yates Memo” serve as the basis for revisions to the U.S. Attorney’s Manual – particularly the section outlining the Principles of Federal Prosecution of Business Organizations – released November 16, 2015. While many of the principles outlined in the Yates Memo and recent revisions to the U.S. Attorney’s Manual are consistent with DOJ’s prior practice and rhetoric regarding white collar investigations, the emphasis on individual accountability requires companies to consider carefully those aspects of an internal investigation with consequences on individual executives and employees.
Continue Reading The Yates Memo and Consequences for Internal Investigations

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From the Bass, Berry & Sims Blog Network

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