Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant’s motion to dismiss plaintiff’s False Claim Act action for failure to state viable claim, where plaintiff-employee of defendant alleged that defendant submitted knowingly fraudulent claims for Medicaid reimbursement when it admitted new patients with acute mental illness in excess of its 150-bed capacity and permitted said patients to sleep in dayroom, and yet charged govt. as if patients had slept in private room. Dist. Ct. could properly find that plaintiff’s claim was precluded by public-disclosure bar, where: (1) defendant had voluntarily provided information on which plaintiff’s allegations were based to federal and state govt. authorities, and said information was publicly disclosed in 2009 pursuant to CMS letters and audit report; (2) govt. had sufficient basis from audit to infer that defendant was providing false information to govt.; and (3) plaintiff’s allegations were substantially similar to publicly disclosed allegations, and plaintiff did not supply any genuinely new and material information.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
False Claims Act