U.S. ex rel. Grenadyor v. Ukrainian Village Pharmacy

Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
False Claims Act
Citation
Case Number: 
No. 13-3383
Decision Date: 
December 3, 2014
Federal District: 
N.D. Ill., E. Div.
Holding: 
Affirmed and reversed in part and remanded
Dist. Ct. did not err in dismissing plaintiff’s False Claims Act action, alleging that defendant submitted false claims seeking from Medicare reimbursement of drug prescriptions, where defendant made gifts to customers in order to retain their business, and where such practice had practical effect transferring cost of co-pay from customer to govt. Plaintiff’s complaint failed to allege acts of fraud with sufficient particularity to satisfy Rule 9(b) and failed to identify any specific customer who had received kickback/return of his or her co-pay. Moreover, plaintiff failed to allege that defendant knew at time it made any claim to Medicare that said claim was actually false. Dist. Ct. erred, though, in dismissing plaintiff’s retaliation claim, where plaintiff adequately alleged that he was terminated for making internal complaint regarding defendant’s practice of giving gifts to retain customers.