June 1, 2011: Jennifer Verkamp prevails for MV Client in First Circuit on Important Kickback issue; Case hailed as “Game Changer;” Spine Hardware company must answer charges

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.