Chamber Litigation Blog

Last week, the Fourth Circuit unanimously upheld a 2020 West Virginia law prohibiting trial lawyers from using misleading tactics, like falsely labeling their ads as “medical alerts” or using the word “recall” when no recall had been issued, to scare consumers into signing up for lawsuits. Trial lawyers sued in federal court to block the law, which they claimed violates the First Amendment.

Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Jamie Allyson Lang, Matthew V.H. Noller, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s top False Claims Act (FCA) developments include: a Seventh Circuit decision applying the Safeco scienter test to dismiss an FCA claim; an Eleventh Circuit decision addressing how to apply the FCA’s first-to-file bar; and a district court decision dismissing FCA claims based on alleged mislabeling of prescription drugs. 

Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Tamra Moore, Jamie Allyson Lang, Matthew V.H. Noller, King & Spalding LLP 

This week’s top False Claims Act (FCA) developments include: a proposed rule requiring Department of Agriculture contractors to certify their compliance with federal and state labor laws; the first settlement of an FCA case under DOJ’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative; and a decision by a Massachusetts federal court denying attorney’s fees to relators under the FCA’s first-to-file rule.

Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Tamra Moore, Matthew V.H. Noller, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s report on top False Claims Act (FCA) developments includes: DOJ’s announcement that it recovered more than $5.6 billion from FCA actions during fiscal year 2021; two recent settlements reflecting the government’s ongoing use of the FCA to pursue allegations of healthcare fraud; an unpublished Ninth Circuit decision reversing the dismissal of a qui tam action under the public-disclosure bar; and a petition for certiorari seeking review of a Seventh Circuit decision in an FCA case raising questions concerning Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b) and the scope of implied certification liability under the FCA.

Supreme Court Urges Courts to Undertake a Context-Specific Scrutiny of Excessive-Fee Claims in ERISA Cases and Pay Heed to the “Range of Reasonable Judgments a Fiduciary May Make”

Jaime A. Santos and Christina Hennecken, Goodwin Procter LLP

On Monday, the Supreme Court vacated the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, an important ERISA case.  Although the Court’s decision vacated a Seventh Circuit victory for plan sponsor Northwestern, it provided helpful guidance to plan sponsors: The Court made clear that the plausibility pleading requirement as articulated in Twombly and Iqbal applies with full force in ERISA excessive-fee cases, and it reaffirmed the importance of a context-sensitive scrutiny of allegations at the pleading stage. 

Ethan P. Davis, Amy B. Boring, and Kassi N. Conley, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s top False Claims Act (FCA) developments include: the Supreme Court’s call for the views of the Solicitor General on a certiorari petition related to FCA pleading requirements; the reversal of an attorneys’ fee award against a relator; continued FCA enforcement against companies that allegedly defrauded American servicemembers; and FCA settlements involving allegations of improper billing codes and unnecessary genetic testing.

Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Maggie Thomas, Jacqueline Van De Velde, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s top False Claims Act (FCA) developments include:  the first court of appeals decision squarely holding that monetary awards in declined qui tam cases qualify as fines imposed by the United States for purposes of the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause; DOJ’s dual criminal and civil pursuit of companies that allegedly defrauded American servicemembers; and a settlement highlighting DOJ’s broad net with respect to opioid-related enforcement efforts. 

Ethan P. Davis, William S. McClintock, and Mark J. Villapando, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s top False Claims Act (FCA) developments include: a Second Circuit decision holding that the FCA’s materiality requirement applies to expressly false and factually false claims; an FCA settlement resolving allegations that a construction contractor caused Vermont to submit false claims to the Federal Highway Administration; an FCA settlement related to home health services and alleged improper claims submitted to Medicare and Medicaid; a resolution demonstrating the willingness of DOJ to take a “double-barreled” approach and pursue civil and criminal penalties against individuals for Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and Stark Law violations; and a district court decision dismissing an FCA case filed by DOJ after finding state medical drug coverage restrictions improper.

Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Ethan P. Davis, Amy B. Boring, and Hamilton Craig, King & Spalding LLP

This week’s top False Claims Act (FCA) developments include:  another example of opioid-related FCA enforcement; continued FCA settlement activity involving allegations of kickbacks; the Department of Justice’s intervention in an FCA case alleging fraudulent price reporting against a company that supplies ingredients to compounding pharmacies; and a settlement of FCA allegations against the Archdiocese of New Orleans relating to alleged fraud against the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).