ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
$85 Million Nursing Home Medicare Fraud Jury Verdict Upheld
$255 Million After Statutory Penalties And Trebling
Whistleblower Prosecuted Case On Her Own
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit last month affirmed a jury verdict against a nursing home management company which found the company engaged in a multi-year scheme to defraud Medicare. The case* was brought by a career nurse with more than 20 years’ experience working in nursing homes. The San Francisco and California whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent employees, former employees, and other individuals with credible information of fraudulent billing practices or any type of healthcare fraud against the government. If you have credible information for a whistleblower or qui tam case, call the whistleblower/qui tam attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. today at (415) 441-8669.
The whistleblower in the case filed a False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 et seq.) complaint in 2011 on behalf of the United States and the State of Florida alleging that defendant routinely upcoded claims and falsified reports summarizing patient treatment resulting in inflated reimbursements under Medicare. The U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Florida declined to intervene, but the whistleblower persisted with the case on her own. The matter went before a federal jury. After a 20-day trial, the jury returned one of the largest qui tam verdicts in history. However, the district judge granted the defendants’ motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The whistleblower appealed and the appellate court reinstated the verdict. United States ex rel. Ruckh v. Salus Rehabilitation, LLC, No. 18-10500, 2020 WL 3467393 (11th Cir. June 25, 2020).
The whistleblower who initiated and prosecuted the action without the government’s help will receive a sizeable reward. Insiders like employees, former employees, and salespersons may witness fraudulent schemes in operation. If you have original information of this kind of fraud or any other fraud being perpetrated against the government here in San Francisco or elsewhere in California, call Ingrid M. Evans and the other whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. If your employer retaliates against you for blowing the whistle on fraud, our litigators can also represent you in any action for wrongful termination. Remedies include reinstatement, double back pay plus interest, special damages, and attorneys’ fees and expenses incurred in bringing your case. 31 U.S. § 3730(h)(2).
Contact Us
If you or a loved one has information regarding a whistleblower or qui tam case of false claims for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, or bank fraud under The Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA/FIAFEA), securities fraud under the Commodities Futures Trading Commission Whistleblower Program and the Securities and Exchange Commission Whistleblower Program, other False Claims Act cases, the Internal Revenue Service Whistleblower Office, the FINRA Whistleblower Office or the California False Claims Act, contact Ingrid M. Evans and the other California whistleblower attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our attorneys have experience with large whistleblower cases, complex financial contract litigation, and large insurance companies. We can help guide your case through whistleblower false claims applications, discovery and investigation, a jury trial or toward an equitable settlement. We also handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
*Evans Law Firm, Inc. was not involved in this or any other case discussed in this blog.
