Government Contracts

March 28, 2013
Medicare Asleep On $70M Equipment Overpayments, OIG Says

Medicare has recovered just a sliver of as much as $70 million in overpayments to suppliers of durable medical equipment despite a mandate that such companies obtain bonds to guarantee taxpayers can recoup excessive reimbursement, according to a report issued Wednesday.
February 25, 2013
Shine Might Be Off Alt Fee Arrangements, GC Survey Shows

A significantly smaller percentage of in-house counsel used some form of alternative legal fee structures last year, according to a new legal survey from Fulbright & Jaworski LLP that defied previous years' upward trends and more vocal criticism in recent years of the billable hour.
February 25, 2013
In-House Teams Expand To Keep Pace With More Suits, Probes

Corporations beefed up their legal departments in 2012 and expect to do the same this year, according to a new report, with mounting regulatory challenges and abundant litigation combining to boost the need for in-house expertise.
February 25, 2013
GCs Rate Fixed Fees Best Bang For Their Buck

In-house corporate lawyers last year rated fixed-fee legal pricing the most effective alternative fee model to the straight billable hour, according to an annual Fulbright & Jaworski LLP survey released Tuesday.
February 15, 2013
GCs Name Cream Of The Crop Litigators

Corporate counsel singled out nearly 100 litigators as the most client service-driven in their field thanks to their innate ability to deliver solid outcomes, effectively communicate litigation strategy and prioritize their clients' business interests.
February 11, 2013
Feds Recover $4.2B In Health Care Overpayments In 2012

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday announced that, along with federal prosecutors, the agency recovered $4.2 billion in overpayments for Medicare and other health programs in 2012, surpassing the previous year's record of $4.1 billion.
October 9, 2012
Medicare Fraud Suspects Often Hospitals, Suppliers: GAO

Of the thousands of criminal cases against alleged Medicare and Medicaid fraudsters, medical facilities and equipment suppliers account for 40 percent of criminal cases, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
October 4, 2012
Feds Bust 91 In $430M Medicare Fraud Crackdown

Health regulators and law enforcement officials arrested 91 people, including hospital executives, doctors and nurses, for allegedly defrauding Medicare of about $430 million, the attorney general and health secretary announced Thursday.
October 3, 2012
Senate Slams DHS' Local Intelligence Gathering As Useless

A U.S Senate report published Wednesday blasted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's spending on state and local intelligence “fusion centers,” saying their information gathering violated citizens' privacy without helping federal counterterrorism efforts and leaned too heavily on underqualified contractors.
September 27, 2012
Whistleblowers Behind Texas' High Fraud Settlement Recovery

Private whistleblowers are driving Texas' recovery of Medicaid fraud settlements with pharmaceutical companies, which have paid Texas more than any other state —at least $354 million since 1991, according to a report released Thursday by Public Citizen.
September 11, 2012
Defense Contractors Warn Senate Of Budget-Driven Layoffs

In letters published Monday by Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, several major defense contractors reiterated their position that the threat of across-the-board budget cuts will force the companies to send layoff warnings to thousands of workers before Election Day.
August 31, 2012
4 Firms Feared Most By In-House Counsel

When dealing with high-stakes litigation, there are four top-notch firms that in-house counsel dread seeing on the other side of the courtroom, according to a new survey of corporate counsel.
August 2, 2012
VA Still Struggles To Verify Vet-Owned Contractors, GAO Says

Despite new oversight mechanisms, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs still struggles to reduce fraud and abuse in its efforts to give contracts to veteran-owned businesses, often blocking legitimate veterans from eligibility along with fraudulent posers, witnesses told a U.S. House of Representatives panel Thursday.
July 16, 2012
FCA Recoveries On Steep Rise To Record Highs, Report Says

Riding a sharply rising tide of enforcement, recoveries under the False Claims Act will likely hit record highs in 2012, with most imminent claims likely to come from the health care industry, according to a report issued Thursday by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
July 5, 2012
Medicare Competitive Bidding Needs Makeover, Study Says

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' competitive bidding system has failed to create a stable economic environment for home medical equipment and needs to be altered immediately, an economic study released Thursday said.
June 29, 2012
Law360's Global 20 Firms Open Up New Frontiers

For the second year in a row, Law360 has selected and ranked the 20 law firms with the greatest global reach and expertise.
June 22, 2012
GCs Name Rolls Royce Of Law Firms

A new report based on interviews with corporate counsel has identified the eighteen law firms with the strongest brands in the legal market.
June 18, 2012
Most Execs Unconcerned About D&O Suits, Survey Finds

Most directors and officers at public companies are underestimating the risk they'll be sued, despite a high threat of shareholder actions over mergers and acquisitions and increasingly aggressive enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to a Chubb Specialty Insurance survey released Monday.
June 15, 2012
Medicare Overpaid $209M For Diabetes Test Supplies: Report

Four Medicare contractors improperly paid medical equipment suppliers $209 million for home blood-glucose test strips and lancets for diabetic patients in 2007, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' internal watchdog.
June 7, 2012
GAO Scrutinizes Anti-Fraud Efforts In Medicare, Medicaid

The U.S. Government Accountability Office on Thursday unveiled an analysis of four key strategies for deterring and detecting staggering amounts of fraud and waste in Medicare and Medicaid, concluding that federal regulators have made impressive strides in some areas while standing idly by in others.

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Expert Analysis

4th Circ. Could Guide Courts On Constitutional FCA Fines

At oral argument in Bunk v. Gosselin World Wide Moving, a Fourth Circuit panel focused on what number should be analyzed to evaluate the constitutionality of a fine under the False Claims Act and what is the right remedy if a court determines that a fine is constitutionally excessive. The decision will have the potential to greatly affect the amount that FCA defendants who successfully raise constitutional objections will have to pay, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.
Takeaways From Largest Drug Safety Settlement

The recent $500 million settlement of Ranbaxy USA Inc., the largest drug safety-related settlement with a generic manufacturer to date, has broad implications for U.S. Department of Justice and Food and Drug Administration enforcement trends. However, significant questions exist regarding the basis for False Claims Act liability, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
A Stark Reality For Fair Market Value

Under cases involving health care organizations and their Stark Law violations, the government has enforced actions and settlements ranging from $10 million to nearly $40 million in the first half of 2013. These cases highlight a new effort toward Stark Law violations and ultimately, a change in the way organizations should approach fair market value issues, say attorneys with Krieg DeVault LLP.
Contracting In A Perfect Storm Of Enforcement Risk: Part 2

Traditionally, contractors have viewed various aspects of responsibility — responding to investigations, developing ethics programs, interfacing with the customer, etc. — as entirely separate silo practices. In recent years, however, such a piecemeal approach to legal risk management has been shown to be startlingly ineffective, say attorneys with Covington & Burling LLP.
Intelligence Leak Places Spotlight On Classified Programs

The recent leak of sensitive information by an employee of a major government contractor highlights how vulnerable every contractor is to the actions of a single employee. All contractors performing classified work should use this event as a lesson learned and proactively evaluate their internal systems, say Todd Canni and Marques Peterson of McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.
Gov't Missteps Have Created Leverage For Corporations

Seventeen high-profile federal cases over the past four years may provide corporations with greater leverage in negotiating resolutions to federal criminal investigations. The significant missteps by government prosecutors may have undermined the way in which judges view the government, say attorneys with Paul Hastings LLP.
1st Circ. Ruling Highlights Split On FCA First-To-File Bar

The First Circuit's decision in Heineman-Guta v. Guidant Corp. follows a prior decision from the D.C. Circuit — rejecting contrary authority from the Sixth Circuit — and demonstrates a growing trend favoring an interpretation of the first-to-file bar that is grounded in the text of the False Claims Act, encourages prompt reporting of alleged fraud through first-filed actions, and protects defendants from costly copycat suits, say attorneys with McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP.
Mediators, Expand Your Tool Kit In Complex Litigation

The resolution of class actions or multidistrict litigation cases can present a number of challenges that call for the utmost in the mediator's skill and understanding. Though there is no typical complex litigation case, a mediator needs to recognize the special levels of complexity in these cases, such as litigating against "repeat players" and handling "follow-on" cases, says James Rosenbaum of JAMS.
Lessons From Fox Insurance's Multitude Of Mistakes

In Fox Insurance Co. Inc. v. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Ninth Circuit displayed a strong deference to CMS in its first-ever exercise of its authority to terminate immediately its contract with a Part D plan sponsor and set a high bar for a challenge to a termination to be successful, says David Kopans of Squire Sanders LLP.
FRCP Amendments Could Change Discovery As We Know It

On June 3, the federal judiciary’s Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved for publication proposals to limit the scope of discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The proposed amendments appear well targeted to aggressively rein in a discovery process that many believe has gotten out of control in too many cases, say attorneys with Reed Smith LLP.

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