Tag Archives: whistleblowers
Endo Will Pay $13 Million to Settle Case Alleging Illegal Marketing Practices
Endo Pharmaceuticals recently settled a lawsuit with the state of Texas to the tune of $13.5 million, resolving allegations that the company engaged in illegal marketing practices for its drug Lidoderm. The lawsuit claimed Endo purposefully misrepresented the approved uses, safety and efficacy of the drug when marketing it to the Texas Medicaid program. This […]
Judge Throws Out Trade Secret Theft Claims Based on Whistleblower Immunity
In what is believed to be a first-time occurrence under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, a U.S. District Judge tossed out claims against a person accused of stealing trade secrets based on the DTSA’s rules for immunity for confidential disclosures to attorneys while investigating suspected legal violations. Under the DTSA, trade secret disclosures made in […]
Whistleblowers Who File Late May Not Receive Awards
A pair of recent victories by defendants in False Claims Act lawsuits demonstrates the importance of speaking up quickly for whistleblowers who wish to share in fraud enforcement action recoveries. Two companies, PharMerica and Biotronik, both came out victorious in FCA lawsuits filed by whistleblowers that contained somewhat overlapping allegations with previously filed FCA lawsuits. […]
Navy Fired Whistleblower After Reports of Fuel Safety Risks
The U.S. Navy is under fire for terminating a civilian whistleblower who reportedly discovered life-threatening risks to pilots and others due to the improper testing of aircraft fueling equipment and jet fuel that was found to degrade aircraft engines and cause flameouts. The whistleblower was fired June 8, which just happened to be the same […]
Recent Whistleblower Case Shows Potential for Reduction in Monetary Awards
On February 28, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) awarded a whistleblower 20 percent of the sanctions paid in association with an enforcement action brought forth as a result of unique information provided by that whistleblower. In this case, the SEC clarified that the whistleblower’s own culpability in some of the securities violations at […]
False Claims Act Suit Against Genentech Halted
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently halted a False Claims Act lawsuit filed against Genentech Inc. In the suit, the plaintiff claimed the company defrauded Medicare by hiding some side effects of its cancer drug Avastin. The court stated the whistleblower did not show that a failure to report the safety […]
DOJ Claims UnitedHealth Group Overbilled Medicare by Hundreds of Millions
The U.S. Department of Justice recently sued UnitedHealth Group, claiming the company’s senior executives were aware it was overbilling Medicare by hundreds of millions of dollars annually and that they put a stop to a repayment plan in 2014 to meet revenue expectations. The official complaint was filed in May in the U.S. District Court […]
Wells Fargo Claws Back Millions from Former Executives After Accounts Scandal
In the wake of its major scandal involving millions of unauthorized accounts opened in its customers’ names, Wells Fargo is “clawing back” more than $75 million from former top executives. The bank announced the effort in April after an internal investigation found that its former executives did not act quickly enough to look into the […]
SEC Backs Protections in Place for Internal Whistleblowers
Some new guidance provided by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this summer gave some additional reinforcement to the agency’s stance that whistleblowers who report misconduct through their company’s internal channels rather than immediately going to the SEC are still protected by the Dodd-Frank Act’s retaliation provisions. However, there is still some debate over the […]
Hair Stylist Awarded $80,000 in Punitive Damages for Role as Whistleblower
The court in Peasley v. Regis Corporation recently resulted in the jury presenting an $80,000 award in punitive damages to the plaintiff, Valerie Peasley, who worked as a hairstylist under the employment of the Regis Corporation. According to Peasley, she had informed her manager at the salon that several coworkers were both using and selling […]
