Court Certifies Interlocutory Appeal to First Circuit on Causation Standard Connecting AKS Violations and the FCA
Last week a court in the District of Massachusetts took the rare step of allowing an FCA defendant to pursue an interlocutory appeal arising from the summary judgment stage of an FCA case in which DOJ is seeking $10 billion in damages and penalties. The question on appeal asks the First Circuit to take a side in an expanding circuit split on the requisite causation requirement for AKS violations to trigger FCA liability.
First Circuit Joins Circuit Split on FCA Dismissal Authority, Finds Government Has Broad Authority to Dismiss FCA Cases
On January 21, 2022, the First Circuit affirmed the government’s request for dismissal of a whistleblower complaint alleging that several pharmaceutical companies had colluded to defraud Medicare Part D. The government, after declining to intervene, requested dismissal based on its finding that: (1) the suit would require “substantial expenditure of government resources”; (2) “many key aspects of [the relator’s] allegations [we]re not supported”; and (3) “allegations that [the relator] used the qui tam process to leverage his financial interests through securities trading . . . convince[d] the [g]overnment that [the relator was] not an appropriate advocate of the United States’ interests.” (more…)
