Ed “Flash” Ferenc spoke at length with Rick Morgan on June 2, 2011 regarding the Ohio False Claims Act bill, now pending before the Ohio Senate.  The bill is strongly supported by a number of prominent Senate republicans and Attorney General Mike DeWine.  You can hear the interview here.

On June 1, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit handed down its opinion in U.S. ex rel. Hutcheson v. Blackstone Medical.  Jennifer Verkamp argued the case for our client, Susan Hutcheson, following a dismissal in Boston based on the proposition that paying kickbacks to physicians to use Blackstone spinal fusion hardware does not make Medicare claims false.  The Court of Appeals rejected Blackstone’s arguments in an opinion which we believe is a landmark of False Claims Act jurisprudence.  The case is being called a “game changing ruling for whistleblowers.”  Read the opinion here.

The AHLA Fraud and Abuse Practice Group Annual Luncheon, held in Seattle on June 30, 2010, will include Rick Morgan among four panelists discussing recent qui tam developments.

The ABA’s Eighth Annual National Institute on the Civil False Claims Act was held Washington, D.C. in early June, 2010. Rick Morgan moderated a lively panel of exceptionally-accomplished counsel from government, the defense bar, and relator’s bar, discussing practical applications of developments in Rule 9(b) and legislative amendments to the False Claims Act.

On May 3, Rick Morgan testified before the bipartisan congressional Commission on Wartime Contracting in Afghanistan and Iraq, presenting the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund’s views regarding the importance of encouraging whistleblowers to come forward with knowledge of fraud and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, and protecting them when they do.  TAFEF’s testimony is available here, and the Commission’s excellent report, “At what risk? Correcting over-reliance on contractors in contingency operations” is available at this link.

On May 3, Rick Morgan testified before the bipartisan congressional Commission on Wartime Contracting in Afghanistan and Iraq, presenting the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund’s views regarding the importance of encouraging whistleblowers to come forward with knowledge of fraud and abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, and protecting them when they do.  TAFEF’s testimony is available here, and the Commission’s excellent report, “At what risk? Correcting over-reliance on contractors in contingency operations” is available at this link.

Morgan Verkamp lawyers Rick Morgan and Lucia Shary published “FERA THIS! Congress Repairs the False Claims Act to Address Contemporary Fraud and Abuse and Remedy Judicial Activism” in the Spring 2010 edition of Ohio Trial (Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 25-32). A .pdf of the article is available on our Publications page.

September 30, 2010: Multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis settled off-label marketing and kickback allegations brought by Morgan Verkamp clients for a total of $433,000,000, $201,000,000 of which is attributable to our qui tam allegations. Novartis also pled guilty to criminal charges of distrubing misbranded drugs, paying a $185,000,000 fine, and entered into a strong Corporate Integrity Agreement. For more information, here is our Press Release. More information is available on Taxpayers Against Fraud’s website.

Tina Gonter, who (with her husband Bill) brought a qui tam complaint to stop the installation of defective valves on the Navy’s nuclear submarines, was invited by Senator Charles Grassley, the False Claims Act’s biggest supporter in Congress, to tell her story to the press. While Senator Grassley was running for re-election, he explained that the conference was less a campaign event than an opportunty to permit the press to hear from Tina and two other whistleblowers who made a big difference, Sal Barbera and Jim Alderson.

On January 31, 2011, Ohio Medicaid Managed Care provider CareSource agreed to pay the United States and the State of Ohio $26 million to settle claims brought by two CareSource nurses who alleged that they were required by the company to submit bogus data to the State of Ohio regarding children with special health care needs (“CSHCN”).  Our clients are being paid 21% of the federal settlement, which will be paid over three years.