Phillips & Cohen partner Peter Chatfield was quoted in Bloomberg BNA about a recent decision in a whistleblower lawsuit involving alleged Medicare fraud. He analyzed what a judge got wrong in his decision to use a recent Supreme Court decision to vacate a $348 million jury verdict in a whistleblower case against Nursing home chain Consulate Health Care.
Peter W. Chatfield, a whistleblower attorney, said the decision was “overly aggressive and overbroad” in interpreting Escobar, and applying the FCA statute itself. Chatfield, a partner with Phillips & Cohen LLP in Washington, told Bloomberg Law Jan. 12 that the FCA statute defines materiality as that which has the tenancy or could influence government payment decisions, and that Merryday erred by “focusing exclusively on whether the government continued to pay the claims.”