Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey held that a private company could proceed with its whistleblower action against a clinical laboratory that allegedly submitted false claims to the federal government for medically unnecessary urine drug tests (UDTs). The lawsuit is part of a growing trend of nontraditional whistleblower-like insurance companies, activists, investors and special purpose entities created to file False Claims Act actions, which traditionally had been brought by former or current employees of the target entities.

Read on to learn how the opinion demonstrates the U.S. Department of Justice’s continued crackdown on UDT laboratories — part of its effort to combat the opioid epidemic and the associated abuse of federal healthcare programs — and on nontraditional whistleblowers playing an increasingly important role in bringing FCA cases.