The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has intervened in two False Claims Act cases pending in federal court in North Carolina. DOJ also revealed that settlements were reached with several California-based construction businesses and two individuals to partially resolve allegations under the False Claims Act that the defendants conspired to […]
Home Health Company to Pay $150M to Resolve False Claim Allegations
Amedisys, Inc. and its affiliates have agreed to pay $150 million to the federal government to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by submitting false home healthcare billings to the Medicare program. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the settlement on April 23, 2014. Amedisys is one […]
General Mills Backtracks on Arbitration Policy
The General Mills Corporation apologized and quickly retreated from a policy change which inserted a forced arbitration clause into its terms of service. The company, which makes popular cereal brands such as Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs, created a social media firestorm when it quietly added language to its website to […]
Wrongful Incarceration Suit Yields $36 Million Verdict
Two men who were convicted and wrongfully incarcerated for the 1984 rape and murder of a teenage girl have prevailed in a civil rights lawsuit in federal court in the Eastern District of New York. The two men, John Restivo and Dennis Halstead, were freed in 2003 when DNA from […]
General Mills Arbitration Stance Causes Social Media Uproar
General Mills, Inc., the company that makes popular cereals Cheerios and Cocoa Puffs and also numerous other brands created a firestorm on social media after it began telling customers who joined its online communities that they have given up their right to sue the company by doing so. The company […]
NYT Article Highlights Lender Abuses with Reverse Mortgages
A recent New York Times article titled “Pitfalls of Reverse Mortgages May Pass to Borrower’s Heirs” highlights difficulties some homeowners’ heirs are experiencing because lenders are not adhering to applicable regulations on reverse mortgages. Although the reverse mortgage market has been in decline since the financial crisis, the rate of […]
Duke Health Settles NC Whistleblower Case
Duke University Health System, Inc. has agreed to pay $1 million to resolve allegations under the United States and North Carolina False Claims Acts that it made false claims in conjunction with medical care provided to beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE). The whistleblower lawsuit was filed […]
Bank of America Ordered to Pay $727 Million in Consumer Relief for Illegal Credit Card Practices
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Bank of America, NA and FIA Card Services, NA to provide an estimated $727 million in relief to consumers harmed by practices related to credit card add-on products. Approximately 1.4 million consumers were impacted by Bank of America’s deceptive marketing of add-on […]
General Motors Suspends Two Engineers Over Ignition Defects
General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced Thursday morning that GM has suspended with pay two GM engineers while the company seeks ‘the truth about what happened’ and how it took ten years for GM to issue a safety recall of vehicles with defective ignition switches. The two employees were not […]
NY Times Article Reports GM ‘Mislead Grieving Families’
An article this week in the New York Times reports that General Motors knew five years ago of the deadly ignition switch defect in its Chevy Cobalt. The article discusses a meeting in May 2009 where GM engineers reviewed data from black boxes that confirmed the deadly defect. The article […]