Advocates for Justice

Part 5:  Whistleblower Rewards

In a divided opinion, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal overturned a lower court order dismissing a $35 million whistleblower suit against Brookdale Senior Living Communities. The suit was filed by a former employee of Brookdale who was tasked with reviewing Medicare claims prior to their submission. The whistleblower alleged that it was Brookdale’s policy to enroll as many residents as possible in home health care services that were billed to Medicare, even when the treatments were not medically necessary. She also alleged that Brookdale submitted claims to Medicare without obtaining the required physician certification of need, or that Brookdale obtained the certifications after the fact.

Part 4: Who Can Be a Qui Tam Plaintiff? And What Is the Basic Process?

Part 3:  Whistleblower Rewards: An Introduction to the False Claims Act

Part 2: Protecting Whistleblowers From Retaliation

Part 1: Am I a Potential Whistleblower?

In you have a brokerage account it is subject to oversight by FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority).  Over the past several years FINRA has implemented new protections for senior citizens.  An important new rule (FINRA Rule 2165) went into effect in February 2018 to address scams and other fraud targeting vulnerable adults.  Rule 2165 is designed to protect two populations:

• Elders aged 65 and older; and,
• People over 18 who a brokerage firm “reasonably believes” have a mental or physical impairment that renders the individual unable to protect his or her own interests.

This wording dovetails nicely with FINRA’s “know your customer” rule (FINRA Rule 2090).

Over the past several years we have posted news about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”).  As attorneys focused on socially just causes, we care about the watchdog agency that was formed to protect the interests of everyday consumers against unscrupulous practices of financial institutions.  The CFPB’s mission becomes that much more important in this era of forced arbitration and contractual class action bans.  In more and more cases the courthouse doors are shut to consumers who have been defrauded by their banks, mortgage companies, payday lenders, and brokerage firms.  Imagine your bank took $500 from your bank account without justification, what are your options?  It used to be that you could band together with other bank customers who had the same thing happen, but in 2018 that is often not the case.  This is one reason that the CFPB is so critically important – in a time when citizens’ rights to hold financial institutions accountable are being trampled, there at least was a government agencies that was designed to help injured consumers. 

The clinical laboratory industry continues to be a hotbed for Medicare and Medicaid fraud, as well as fraud and overbilling in connection with tests covered by private insurance.

On March 20, 2018, in Cyan, Inc. v. Beaver County Employees Retirement Fund, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that state courts retain jurisdiction over class actions brought under the Securities Act of 1933.  The decision resolves a split among the lower courts and protects pending class actions from removal.