Advocates for Justice

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.

Congratulations to Niall McCarthy for being named to the Irish Legal 100 for 2014.  The Irish Legal is published in the Irish Voice, which is a national legal newspaper.

After an hour long hearing on Thursday, December 11, 2014, Judge Elihu M. Berle of the Los Angeles Superior Court rejected defense challenges to a CPM whistleblower complaint alleging that they engaged in a vast fraudulent scheme involving spinal surgeries in Southern California. The plaintiffs assert that the defendants have defrauded the government and various California workers compensation insurance carriers by systematically arranging and performing spinal surgeries that: (1) were medically unnecessary; (2) used non-FDA-approved, counterfeit surgical hardware, including rods and screws that were implanted in patients’ back; (3) result from a vast array of kickbacks; and (4) were billed to insurance carriers and government payers at illegally inflated rates. 

Mixed news this week for Dodd-Frank whistleblowers and attorneys working in that space: As we already know from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s annual report to Congress (released last month), foreign-based whistleblowers are coming forward in ever-growing force to report Dodd-Frank violators to the Commission.

The owner of the property adjacent to Martin’s Beach has been ordered to immediately reopen public access to the beach. Judge Barbara Mallach of the San Mateo County Superior Court issued a final order today directing Vinod Khosla to open the gate blocking access to the way it was when he purchased the property.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held last week that the FCA does not bar prospective employers from discriminating against job applicants for having served as whistleblowers against different companies in the past.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released its annual report to Congress on its Dodd-Frank whistleblower program last week. As in years past, the results are heartening for prospective whistleblowers, shareholders, and good governance advocates worldwide: For fiscal year 2014, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower (“OWB”) received 3,620 tips—nearly 400 more than in fiscal year 2013, and about 20 percent more than the agency received in fiscal year 2012, which was the program’s first full year in operation.

Due to rampant drug and gang violence in Central America—particularly in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras—there has been a huge influx or “surge” of unaccompanied minors immigrating to the United States.