The courts appear to be walking back their trend toward loosening False Claims Act (“FCA”) pleading requirements. The FCA is a fraud statute, and lawsuits alleging FCA violations must be pled under Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: Fraud or Mistake; Conditions of Mind. In alleging fraud or mistake,... Continue Reading →Tags: Bledsoe, Clausen, False Claims Act, fraud with particularity, Hirt, Jallali, Mastej, Prather, Rule 9(b), Walgreen
The Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida appears to have rejected recent direction from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal to deny a motion to dismiss in a False Claims Act case. In United States ex rel. Napoli et al. v. Premier Hospitalists PL, et al. the... Continue Reading →Tags: Clausen, False Claims Act, FCA, fraud, fraud with particularity, Jallali, Mastej, Napoli, Premier Hospitalists, Rule 9
Last week, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued its unpublished ruling in US ex rel. Mastej v. Health Management Associates, Inc. At issue was whether the relator’s Third Amended Complaint adequately pled fraud with particularity, as required by Fed.R.Civ.Pro. 9(b). Mastej was an Health Management Associate (“HMA”) executive from 2001 to... Continue Reading →Tags: 11th Circuit, 9(b), AKS, Anti-Kickback, Eleventh Circuit, False Claims Act, FCA, fraud with particularity, Health Management Systems, HMS, Mastej, Stark