Subject to Inquiry

Subject to Inquiry

THE LATEST ON GOVERNMENT INQUIRIES AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS

Government Investigations and White Collar Litigation Group

David Pivnick

Photo of David Pivnick David currently serves as co-leader of the firm’s Healthcare Litigation and Enforcement Practice Group. David’s practice is focused on complex commercial litigation with an emphasis on healthcare litigation. He has represented and advised clients across the country in a variety of matters involving the False Claims Act, contract law, restrictive covenants, partnership disputes, managed care issues, injunctive relief, and unfair competition.

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Analysis of DOJ’s FY 2022 FCA Statistics and the Mixed Signals Therein

By Michael J. Podberesky, David Pivnick, Laura Colombell Marshall, Edwin O. Childs and McGuireWoods LLP on Fraud, Deception and False Claims
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it recovered over $2.2 billion under the False Claims Act (FCA) in Fiscal Year 2022.[1] That is a steep drop from last year’s near-record $5.7 billion haul and the lowest annual recovery since 2008. That year-over-year decline, though, was exacerbated by a $3 billion… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Signals Interest in Clarifying Pleading Requirements in False Claims Act Suits

By Michael J. Podberesky, John S. Moran, David Pivnick, Laura Colombell Marshall and McGuireWoods LLP on Fraud, Deception and False Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court soon will decide whether to tackle a longstanding question regarding the applicability of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) pleading standards in False Claims Act suits. To satisfy the rule’s particularity requirement, plaintiffs generally have needed to detail specific false claims submitted by defendants. The question is whether plaintiffs instead may… Continue Reading

Analysis of DOJ’s 2021 FCA Statistics and the Trends Therein

By Michael J. Podberesky, David Pivnick, Edwin O. Childs, Laura Colombell Marshall and McGuireWoods LLP on Fraud, Deception and False Claims
Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ or Department) announced that it recovered over $5.6 billion under the False Claims Act (FCA) in Fiscal Year 2021.[1] That is a massive headline haul that is second only to the roughly $6 billion recovered under the FCA in FY 2014, when there were $3.1 billion in… Continue Reading

Tide Is Turning Against FCA Case Dismissals

By Michael J. Podberesky, John S. Moran, Todd R. Steggerda, David Pivnick and Cassandra M. Burns on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims
According to a July 28 article in Law360 by McGuireWoods lawyers Michael J. Podberesky, John S. Moran, Todd R. Steggerda, David Pivnick and Cassandra M. Burns, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision declining to review an appeal of a Seventh Circuit case that could have resolved a three-way circuit split regarding the proper standard for… Continue Reading

DOJ Announces Plan for Coordinated Civil Rights Response to COVID-19

By Michael J. Podberesky, David Pivnick, Elizabeth P. Redpath, Joseph L. Wilson II and McGuireWoods LLP on Compliance
On April 2, 2021, Pamela S. Karlan, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (DOJ), issued a public statement regarding the Division’s intent to lead a coordinated civil rights response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The statement, which attached a resource guide, is intended… Continue Reading

U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Clarify False Claims Act Falsity Standard

By Michael J. Podberesky, Todd R. Steggerda, David Pivnick, John S. Moran, Jason M. Vespoli and McGuireWoods LLP on Fraud, Deception and False Claims, Government Contracts
The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to address a circuit split regarding the standard for establishing that a statement material to a claim for payment is false under the False Claims Act (FCA); specifically, whether the FCA requires pleading and proof of an “objectively false statement,” or whether liability can be based on allegedly false… Continue Reading

Analysis of the DOJ’s 2020 FCA Statistics and the Trends Therein

By Michael J. Podberesky, David Pivnick, Christina Egan and Jeremy Byrum on Enforcement and Prosecution Policy and Trends, Fraud, Deception and False Claims, Government Contracts
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued its annual press release summarizing fraud-related recoveries from False Claims Act (FCA) matters in the prior fiscal year. While the headline number for FY 2020 of $2.2 billion in settlements and judgments involving fraud and false claims against the government is down about $900 million from the… Continue Reading

DOJ Puts Collection of Civil Penalties on Hold in Response to COVID-19

By Christina Egan, David Pivnick and R. Andrew Austria on Compliance
In a pair of recent memoranda from the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (“EOUSA”) issued on March 31, 2020, and April 13, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has effectively halted enforcement actions and the collection of civil penalties.  Included in this temporary suspension is the collection of civil penalties incurred in… Continue Reading

Supreme Court Hands Down Opinion in Universal Health Services v. Escobar

By David Pivnick, Brett Barnett and McGuireWoods LLP on Fraud, Deception and False Claims
Recently, the Supreme Court handed down its much-anticipated opinion in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar et al.—a case addressing the viability of the implied certification theory in FCA litigation.  Justice Thomas, writing on behalf of a unanimous Court, found that the implied certification theory can in fact serve as a… Continue Reading

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