Stop Illinois Health Care Fraud, LLC v. Sayeed

Dist. Ct. erred in entering judgment in defendant's favor at close of plaintiff' case in bench trial on qui tam action, alleging that defendants violated Anti-Kickback Statute by paying co-defendant $5,000 on monthly basis for access to records of co-defendant's medical patients for purpose of permitting defendants to gain access to contact information that would allow defendants to solicit said patients to purchase services provided by defendants. While as Dist. Ct. noted there was no evidence indicating that co-defendant directed its patients to defendants, instant file-access could constitute improper referral under Anti-Kickback Statute under certain circumstances. As such, remand was required, where, as here, Dist. Ct. made necessary ultimate finding that agreement with co-defendant was not intended to induce referrals, yet had failed to make subsidiary findings necessary to reveal its chain of reasoning. Dist. Ct., though, may reach new findings of fact and conclusions of law on existing record or may reopen record to receive additional evidence.