Florida Employment Lawyer Blog

According to a recent lawsuit filed by Sarelson Law Firm on behalf of a terminated employee of MedVance Institute, the private, for-profit career college has been violating the False Claims Act. When the employee complained about irregularities in the school's enrollment policy - specifically why students were being kept on the rolls despite not meeting eligibility requirements - he was terminated. MedVance, like several other private career colleges, benefits enormously from student loans that are insured by the federal government. These private schools make more money when more students are enrolled, and more students can enroll when they have access to affordable, government-backed loans. If a student drops out for personal reasons or fails out for whatever reason, the student's tuition payments stop. Since the school is for-profit, it will do what is necessary to maintain the student's enrollment - even if means changing grades or attendance records.

In recent years, several other private colleges have faced similar False Claims Act cases. Kaplan University has been for years defending a case assigned to the Southern District of Florida in Miami pursuant to a multi-district litigation order, and Texas-based Alta College settled a similar case in 2009 for $7 million.

In addition to recovering the value of the false claims, the False Claims Act has a specific anti-retaliation provision that entitles terminated employees to double back pay, as well as attorneys' fees and costs.

A copy of the pending lawsuit is here:

MedVance Institute False Claims

If you are familiar with MedVance's enrollment or business practices, Sarelson Law Firm would like to speak with you.

Novartis A.G., a massive pharmaceutical conglomerate, agreed today to pay $3.5M to the government to settle a False Claims/Qui Tam action. South Florida is awash in medicare fraud, but what makes this case unique is that the drug-maker is not accused of encouraging unnecessary treatment or prescriptions. Instead, Novartis continued to market a drug - an extended release version of nitrogylcerin - even after the FDA concluded that the drug was ineffective. Essentially, Novartis was engaged in false advertising to doctors, which in turn led to millions of dollars in prescriptions for a useless drug.

Under the Medicare Act, once the FDA concludes that a drug is not useful, Medicare will no longer reimburse for the prescription. But Novartis intentionally deceived the government by submitting false reports that mistated the drug's regulatory status. (The blog is unclear about one aspect of this case -- if the FDA changed the drug's regulatory status, then how could the federal government simultanously claim that it was mislead by the drug-maker about the drug's regulatory status?).

The whistleblower in this False Claims Act case -- known as a relator --- will receive $525,000 as a reward for reporting the false claims. This case reiterates the federal government's aggressive anti-fraud efforts. (This settlement was also reached just days after the DOJ reached a similar settlement with a Boston hospital for nearly $3M)

Does your employer have a contract with the federal government or with Florida or another state or muncipality? Is it overbilling? Are the monthly invoices inflated? Contact an experienced Qui Tam lawyer as soon as possible.

For years many of my clients would tell me that their employers were defrauding the IRS or that they do not pay any taxes. Our options were limited - until now.

The IRS now has a dedicated whistleblower office in Washingon, D.C. that handles allegations of tax fraud. Any individual who reports a fraud that is worth at least $2,000,000 is entitled to a reward of up to 30% of the amount recovered by the government. For example, if you know your employer (or neighbor for that matter) has cheated the IRS out of $10,000,000, then you might be entitled to a reward of up to $3,000,000.

Contact an experienced whistleblower attorney today to learn your rights and to not lose out on your opportunity to recover a substantial reward just for doing the right thing. You should consult with a lawyer who will investigate the allegations and make the strongest argument that the employer is actually and intentionally cheating the IRS.

Earlier today the Atlanta-based Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued an "everybody has something to complain about" opinion that affirmed dismissal of a False Claims (aka Qui Tam) lawsuit but reversed and reinstated a False Claims retaliation lawsuit. The opinion is here:

United States v. Lymphatx, Inc. -- Eleventh Circuit Opinion

The complaint, originally filed in West Palm Beach, Florida, alleged that Boca Raton, Florida based Lymphatx, Inc. illegal overbilled medicare -- i.e., this was a very common medicare fraud lawsuit. The district court dismissed the case because the plaintiff failed to state with sufficient particularity what "fraudulent" activity occurred. This decision was affirmed by the appellate court. Plaintiffs alleging fraud have to have more than just bare-bones allegations to support the claim.

But the plaintiff's seperate allegation that she was fired in retaliation for reporting and complaining about the illegal medicare billing was reinstated by the Eleventh Circuit. The appellate court made clear that a False Claims retaliation claim, also known as a section 3730(h) claim, is not itself a "fraud" claim and that the district court should not have dismissed the claim for failing to plead with particularity. The plaintiff's retaliation claim will be returned to the trial court in West Palm Beach and will be allowed to proceed.

Do you have knowledge about fraud on the government? Is your employer a government contractor? Is your doctor overbilling medicare? The False Claims Act incentivizes people to come forward and to report fraud, but it is important that you seek early and sophisticated representation by an experienced whistleblower and false claims employment lawyer.

This just in to the blog. According to the Miami Herald, Boca Raton based office supply giant Office Depot has released a YouTube video to fight back against an employee who allegedly blew the whistle on mispricing of products sold pursuant to government contracts. The blog does not know what claims, if any, the employee has or is planning on bringing, but the blog is shocked at Office Depot's new viral marketing (smear) campaign. Whisteblowers and employees aware of misconduct should speak to an employment attorney as soon as possible, and preferably while still employed.

The Office Depot video is available here:

This is either an incredibly silly or incredibly bold move by Office Depot.