An ambulance service may be liable for damages arising from sexting by a monkey it employed, the Second Circuit ruled on August 29. Actually, the monkey was a man, but the court sided with a female employee who sued the ambulance service under the “cat’s paw” theory. The theory’s name comes from an …
8th Cir. Rejects Dr.’s Grab-Bag Retaliation Suit
Dr. Alaa Elkharwily lost his job at Albert Lea Clinic, but he didn’t go quietly. He sued the clinic and eight related organizations and individuals alleging just about everything a terminated doctor can allege in Minnesota: defamation and violation of the Minn. Vulnerable Adults Act, EMTALA, the Minn. …
Retaliation Claim Survives Though False Claim Act Claim Is False
Roxanne Perkins was employed as a clinical supervisor of prior authorizations therapy at Wellcare Health Plans. When she returned from a leave of absence, she learned that Wellcare had instituted a new practice of approving all preauthorization requests for durable medical equipment. She complained that the …
Bleak House on the Jersey Shore
Remember Jarndyce v. Jarndyce in the Charles Dickens classic Bleak House? The case drags on for so long that the only winners are the lawyers? (Not that that’s all bad.) Well, Jarndyce is playing out in a medical staff dispute on the Jersey Shore. The latest chapter came out on March 14, when the …
A Grossly Negligent Claim Isn’t a False Claim
You have to feel sorry for whistleblower Darilyn Johnson. The former billing clerk thought she had a sure-fire, double-barrel False Claims Act (FCA) case against the medical clinic that fired her. Barrel one was her basic FCA case. Darilyn could prove that when the allergy clinic filled out its Medicare …
Health Care Fraud and Abuse Enforcement Priorities in Minnesota
United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, Andrew Luger, spoke at a public event on March 3, 2016, at Mitchell-Hamline School of Law on the topic of health care fraud & abuse enforcement priorities in Minnesota. Luger began the discussion explaining the resource shortage issue in the white collar …