Boeing Co. has agreed to pay $2 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that accused the company of overcharging the U.S. government. In the lawsuit, Edward Quintana alleged that the company manipulated billing statements for a U.S. Air Force contract to reflect airplane maintenance that was never performed. Boeing denied any wrongdoing under the settlement, a spokesperson for company said.
Two sisters who claim that State Farm defrauded the government in the wake of Hurricane Katrina will be allowed to testify in their lawsuit against the insurer, a federal judge has ruled. In an order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ruled that Cori and Kerri Rigsby’s work as insurance adjusters gave them relevant knowledge of the allegations at hand and that the two should be permitted to testify. The sisters allege that State Farm wrongly denied claims arising from Katrina, shifting costs onto the National Flood Insurance Program.
The indictment of two nurses who complained to superiors about the conduct of a West Texas doctor is an unacceptable miscarriage of justice, according to an editorial published in the Austin American-Statesman. The nurses were charged with "misuse of official information" when the doctor filed a harassment complaint in response to news that he was being investigated by the Texas Medical Board. The board has since informed Winkler County attorneys that the prosecution is improper.
A former Boston Scientific saleswoman has filed a lawsuit accusing the company and six other firms of defrauding the federal Medicare program by promoting surgical devices for off-label uses. According to the whistleblower lawsuit, the companies violated the federal False Claims Act by encouraging health care providers to perform a heart procedure as a more costly inpatient procedure. Other companies named in the lawsuit include Medtronic Inc., St. Jude Medical Inc., Endoscopic Technologies Inc., and Atricure Inc
A Michigan judge has ordered the City of Detroit to pay damages to a former fire department EMS worker who claimed he was fired for reporting an alleged assault by the wife of former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Oakland County Chief Circuit Judge Wendy Potts issued a default judgment after attorneys for the city failed to respond to the complaint and then arrived late to a hearing on a motion to set aside the judgment. The city official said they will ask the judge to reconsider
A whistleblower complaint alleging that Diabetes Treatment Centers of America (DTCA) paid kickbacks to doctors in exchange for referrals was settled for $40 million dollars. DTCA’s parent company Healthways, Inc., will pay $28 million to the United States government in addition to $12 million in attorney’s fees. The whistleblower, A. Scott Pogue, filed the case in 1994 and stands to receive between 25 and 30 percent of the government’s settlement amount.
A federal aviation inspector told supervisors about problems with an airline that crashed near Buffalo more than a year before the accident, the New York Times reports. According to Christopher J. Monteleon, pilots with Colgan Air made repeated errors and oversights during test flights with Bombardier Dash 8 Q400. Monteleon claims he was retaliated against after reporting the problems to superiors.
The federal government joined more than a dozens states Monday in a whistleblower lawsuit accusing one of the nation’s largest drug makers of bilking hundreds of millions of dollars out of Medicaid programs. According to the federal court claims, Wyeth withheld information about steep discounts offered for two versions of the stomach acid suppressant Protonix from 2000 to 2006. The lawsuit seeks treble damages on behalf of the federal government and participating states.
Maxxam Corp. and Houston financier Charles Hurwitz will pay $4 million to settle whistleblower claims that they tried to defraud the government during a 1999 land deal. According the complaint, filed by California Department of Forestry employees, the former owners of the Pacific Lumber Co. submitted fraudulent computer data to government officials. The settlement includes about $1 million in fees and expenses
The Justice Department announced Wednesday that Quest Diagnostics will pay $302 million to a settle whistleblower claims alleging that a Quest subsidiary knowingly sold faulty diagnostic test kits. According to allegations, Nichols Institute Diagnostics continued to market its parathyroid test kits despite knowledge that the test sometimes produced elevated results. Under the settlement, the whistleblower will receive about $45 million.
