False Claims Act Insights

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Abe Souza , a new member of Husch Blackwell’s White Collar, Internal Investigations, & Compliance team, to the podcast to discuss newly released Department of Justice data regarding qui tam litigation, as well as DOJ’s False Claims Act priorities and best practices for defusing FCA investigations. There was a record number of qui tam lawsuits filed in 2024, and whil...

Host  Jonathan Porter welcomes Husch Blackwell partner  Bob Romashko to the show to discuss an emerging area of False Claims Act liability—tariffs. True to his campaign promises to impose additional tariffs on major U.S. trading partners, President Trump has been  active early in his second term wielding the threat of tariffs against friend and foe alike. As the tariff regime potentially expands,...

Host  Jonathan Porter welcomes Husch Blackwell partner Kip Randall back to the program to dig deeper into Omni Healthcare, Inc. et al v. MD Spine Solutions LLC et al. , a False Claims Act litigation in which the defendant inadvertently waived privilege by sharing documents with the U.S. government, documents that later found their way to the whistleblower.  The discussion begins with a brief summa...

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Husch Blackwell partner  Cormac Connor back to the show for the second part of a two-part conversation exploring the 2024 U.S. presidential election’s potential impact on how the Department of Justice approaches the enforcement and prosecution of corporate crime, particularly violations of the False Claims Act (FCA). In  Part I of the conversation,  Jonathan and Cor...

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Husch Blackwell partner  Cormac Connor to the show for the first part of a two-part conversation exploring the 2024 U.S. presidential election’s potential impact on how the Department of Justice approaches the enforcement and prosecution of corporate crime, particularly violations of the False Claims Act (FCA). The conversation begins with a brief overview of how tr...

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Husch Blackwell litigator  Tanner Cook to discuss how  the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision from earlier this year could have a major influence on False Claims Act litigation. The Court’s decision in Loper Bright ended decades of so-called Chevron deference, which held that courts had to defer to administrative agencies’ interpretation of the law when a st...

Husch Blackwell’s Rebecca Furdek joins host  Jonathan Porter to discuss civil investigative demands (CIDs), how and when the Department of Justice (DOJ) uses them in the False Claims Act context, and what companies can do to limit or set aside CIDs. Given how broad and powerful a tool CIDs are—and given the potentially enormous consequences that hang on responses to CIDs—Rebecca and Jonathan explo...

Host  Jonathan Porter is joined by Husch Blackwell partner  Hal Katz to discuss healthcare transactions in the context of the False Claims Act (FCA) and other regulatory frameworks applicable to the healthcare industry. As evidenced by the recent torrent of state- and federal-level laws aimed at healthcare, no industry is asked by its regulators to jump through so many hoops as healthcare when it...

Host  Jonathan Porter  is joined by Husch Blackwell partners  Jody Rudman and  Lorinda Holloway to discuss the implications of  a September 2024 federal court decision from the Middle District of Florida that strikes down the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions as unconstitutional. Our conversation begins with a brief overview of the lawsuit, U.S. ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, L...

Host  Jonathan Porter welcomes Georgia Deputy Attorney General Jim Mooney to the show to explore the intersection of the False Claims Act (FCA) and the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). Our discussion begins with an explanation of the enforcement framework at both the state and federal level and the purpose of the AKS. Jonathan and Jim then pivot to cover how the FCA and AKS can overlap in enfo...

Host  Jonathan Porter welcomes Husch Blackwell attorney  Kip Randall to the podcast to discuss the beguiling notion of materiality in the context of False Claims Act litigation. Kip and Jonathan draw from case law to illustrate how courts have construed the materiality standard, including the court’s analysis in a seminal Fourth Circuit case that looked to the essence of what the underlying contra...

Host  Jonathan Porter welcomes Tynan Kugler, Principal with PYA, P.C., and Mara Smith Kouba, legal counsel with Bristol Myers Squibb, to discuss a recent False Claims Act trial verdict from a New Jersey federal court. United States ex re Penelow et al. v. Janssen Products, LP  was decided on June 13, 2024, resulting in potential damage awards of over $1 billion. The case is awaiting appeal. Our di...

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Husch Blackwell attorney Karen Courtheoux to the show to discuss the False Claims Act in the context of government-funded research programs that are often carried out under the auspices of institutions of higher education.  Their discussion kicks off with a short summary of the mechanics of government research funding and the reporting processes of the post-award mo...

Jonathan Porter welcomes Raul Ordonez , Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer at Jackson Health System, and Husch Blackwell senior counsel Megan Phillips to the podcast to explore the intersection of the False Claims Act with Stark Law, the body of federal law that regulates physician self-referrals in connection with Medicare patients and designated health services (DHS). Our discussion kicks...

Host Jonathan Porter welcomes Adam Briggs , Associate General Counsel at UPS, to the podcast to discuss corporate compliance, its role within a corporation, and how it can lessen a corporation’s exposure to False Claims Act liability. Jonathan and Adam discuss the fundamentals of a properly designed and resourced compliance program, including the scale of compliance required by government contract...

Host Jonathan Porter is joined by Troy Clark , Director and Corporate Counsel with Wellstar Health System, to discuss the peculiarities and difficulties of tackling parallel proceedings, that is, investigations and/or enforcement actions that have both a False Claims Act and criminal component. Jonathan and Troy recount a prosecution they handled in parallel while serving together at the Departmen...

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Husch Blackwell’s  Lorinda Holloway to explore settlements in the context of False Claims Act (FCA) litigation. Jonathan and Lorinda discuss the differences between FCA settlements and those typically seen in commercial litigation. They explore what is meant by “covered conduct” and why broad releases are rarely seen in FCA settlements. The presence of whistleblower...

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Husch Blackwell’s  Catherine Hanaway  to explore the government’s use of civil investigation demands (CIDs) within the context of False Claims Act investigations. The CID is a powerful and broad tool, and they are used to gather a variety of information regarding the conduct under investigation. Jonathan and Catherine discuss the importance of handling CIDs with car...

Host  Jonathan Porter  welcomes Husch Blackwell’s  Jody Rudman  to this inaugural podcast episode to discuss the changing profile of whistleblowers in False Claims Act (FCA) litigation. Traditionally, relators, or whistleblowers, in FCA litigation, have been employees who bring fraud claims against their employers, but recent cases demonstrate that potential whistleblowers are lurking far beyond a...