Construction Industry Statute of Repose Applies to Improvements Dedicated as Public Property In Garamella v. City of Lebanon, et al., 2022 Tenn. App. LEXIS 24 (Tenn. Ct. App. Jan. 24, 2022), the court rejected a plaintiff’s argument that the 4-year construction industry statute of repose did not apply in favor of the defendant contractor where the improvement had been dedicated … Read More
Qui Tam Background: Suing on Behalf of the Government as well as Himself
The False Claims Act (“FCA”) remains an important mechanism for the Government to fight actions that defraud us– the citizen taxpayers. (LINK to Cornell Law Article on the FCA). In the FCA, there exists a unique and ever-important provision for whistleblowers, known as the Qui Tam Provision. (LINK to Whistleblower Blog Entry). Qui tam is an abbreviation for the Latin … Read More
Whistleblower Provision of the False Claims Act Remains a Tool to Combat Fraudulent Medical Billing
According to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), healthcare fraud continues to be a leading contributor to False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlements and judgments. (LINK to DOJ’s Feb. 7th Press Release). The FCA settlements and judgments operate to restore funds to the taxpayer-funded government program that has been defrauded. We are seeing the DOJ consistently use the FCA as a deterrence … Read More
Out of State, Not Out of Mind
Alabama Contractor Sued in Tennessee for Construction Defect on Alabama Project In a cautionary tale that some out-of-state contractors may find somewhat surprising, the Tennessee Court of Appeals recently ruled that a homeowner could sue an Alabama contractor in Davidson County regarding construction of a lake house in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Baskin v. Pierce & Allred Constr., Inc., 2022 Tenn. … Read More
Waiver of Written Change Orders and Unjust Enrichment
Tennessee Court of Appeals Finds in Favor of Subcontractor in Claim Against Owner The Tennessee Court of Appeals recently affirmed a trial court’s decision in favor of a subcontractor where the general contractor went under and the subcontractor asserted a lien claim and a claim for unjust enrichment against the owner. The owner argued that the subcontractor did not comply … Read More
False Claims Act Whistleblowers and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Too often the general public wrongly believes the False Claims Act (“FCA”) only applies to Medicare or Medicaid fraud. But the FCA applies to just about any type of fraud orchestrated against the federal government, including fraud against any its many departments and divisions. This certainly includes fraud perpetrated against the United States Department of Energy (“DOE”). On DOE’s website, … Read More
Whistleblower Receives Over $10 Million from Food Service Equipment Provider’s False Claims Act Settlement Related to Small Business Fraud
On February 22nd, food service equipment company TriMark USA agreed to pay $48.5 million to resolve allegations that it fraudulently obtained contracts intended for service-disabled veterans. (LINK to DOJ Press Release on TriMark’s False Claims Settlement). Federal government contracts are often reserved, or “set aside”, for small businesses in a particular socioeconomic category. (LINK to U.S. Government Webpage on Set-Aside … Read More
Whistleblower Leads to DOJ Suit and Settlement Against Hospital for Almost $4 Million
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that a New Hampshire-based hospital, Catholic Medical Center (CMC), paid its own cardiologists to serve as free on-call substitute doctors when one particular cardiologist was on vacation or otherwise unavailable. (LINK to DOJ Press Release on Hospital Settling False Claims Allegations). In exchange, the cardiologist who received free on-call substitute services referred … Read More
Why Do Whistleblowers Matter?
When the term “blow the whistle” started catching on, it found roots in sports referees blowing their whistles due to fouls and other infractions. Over time, “blow the whistle” transformed into something much bigger than sports; it started to mean “calling attention to something, such as criminal activity, kept secret.” A whistleblower then, quite fittingly, is someone who will “blow … Read More
False Claims Act’s Role in Combatting Opioid Epidemic
Civil enforcement under the False Claims Act continues to be critical in the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat the country’s opioid epidemic. We certainly see those efforts affecting the pharmaceutical industry as well. (LINK to DOJ Press Release on $5.6 Billion in 2021 False Claims Settlements). Many of these lawsuits are only made possible due to private individuals acting … Read More