Advocates for Justice

Last summer, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB-2053, which requires California employers with 50 or more employees to provide workforce bullying training in addition to the required sexual harassment training.  This training is now mandated for employers beginning January 1, 2015.  

Earlier this month, the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a landmark decision broadening liability for False Claims Act violations. The decision, United States ex rel. Badr v. Triple Canopy, Inc., No. 13-2190, -- F.3d -- (4th Cir. 2015), is particularly important, given that the Fourth Circuit covers areas surrounding Washington D.C. that are replete with government contractors.

This past week, the United States Supreme Court made District Courts’ decisions relevant again as they relate to the field of patent cases.  The law that had developed out of the Federal Circuit related to Markman heairngs (hearings regarding claim construction/scope of the patent) held that the standard of review on Markman hearings was de novo.  This was the law, even if the basis of the District Court’s ruling was founded on evidence presented by witnesses.  Under the Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc. decision, where the claim construction was based on evidentiary underpinnings, those factual disputes are now to be reviewed under a “clear error” standard.

Procurement fraud—overcharging the government on some of the millions of products and services that government agencies purchase from private companies every year—is one of the most common schemes giving rise to whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act. On the federal side, an agency called the General Services Administration, or GSA, oversees the procurement of many goods and services on behalf of the federal government. Companies that want to sell their goods to federal agencies go through an application process to get their products listed on the federal GSA “schedule.” Many successful cases have been brought under the False Claims Act based on fraud committed on the GSA. For example, in one of the biggest recoveries, the software company Oracle paid $199.5 million to settle claims that it overcharged the government on the purchase of software products listed on the GSA schedule.

Save Our Juries launched in July 2014, becoming ABOTA's first public awareness campaign. Its mission is to "uphold the jury system provided by the Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by educating the American public about the current issues, the history and the value of the right to trial by jury." In 1958, my father, ABOTA's first National President, built ABOTA on this one mission - to preserve our civil justice system. It's vital that we always use his founding purpose as the anchor of this organization. 

In a complaint filed this week, California Attorney General Kamala Harris added detailed allegations to a whistleblower case filed by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy against BP (formerly British Petroleum) that accuses the oil company of massive overcharging of California cities, counties, universities, and government agencies on purchases of natural gas over the course of the past decade.

Continuing Care Retirement Communities (“CCRCs”) are gaining in popularity as an option for senior retirement living. Many CCRCs offer gorgeous surroundings akin to a 5-star hotel. Often they tout ties to prestigious universities in the hopes of attracting alumni and faculty. However, for all the attractions of CCRC living, there are serious legal consequences to be considered before a senior should make the move to a CCRC.

Another area of healthcare that is rife with fraud is hospice care. Hospices aim to provide palliative care, as opposed to curative care, to patients in the last six months of their lives. Palliative care is aimed at relieving the pain, symptoms, and/or stress of terminal illness and includes a comprehensive set of medical, social, psychological, emotional, and spiritual services provided to a terminally ill individual. Medicare recipients of palliative care agree to forego curative treatment of their terminal illness.