Jack Wenik, a Member of the Firm in the Health Care and Life Sciences and Litigation practices, in the firm’s Newark office, co-authored an American Health Lawyers Association Email Alert, titled “Florida Judge Trebles Award to $347 Million in Whistleblower Case.”
Following is an excerpt:
On March 1, a Florida federal judge awarded the United States and Florida government more than $347 million in trebled damages after a jury determined that four defendants had violated the False Claims Act. In this rare False Claims Act case that both went to trial and received a jury verdict, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday upheld the jury’s $115 award affirming that the operators of 53 nursing facilities had submitted false claims to Medicare and Medicaid. Whistleblower Angela Ruckh, a former nurse at two of the facilities, brought the allegations that the defendants had submitted false claims and fraudulent records asserting that patients needed and received more care than was actually necessary.
