Substantial Penalties Under the FCA Without Real Damages Violates Eighth Amendment
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 02.23.12
Using reasoning that could prove useful to other FCA defendants, the court in U.S. ex rel. Bunk v. Birkart Globistics GmbH & Co. (E.D. Va. Feb. 14, 2012), after the jury found over 9,000 false claims based on invoices submitted, refused to award statutory penalties of between $50.2 and $100.4 million. The court held that, when the qui tam relator failed to show that the government suffered any damage, imposing penalties of this magnitude would have violated the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause and, because it lacked discretion under the FCA to fashion a civil penalty that would be within Constitutional limits, no penalties could be imposed.
Insights
Client Alert | 7 min read | 08.19.26
CMS’s Final Rule Bans Federal Medicaid Funding for Youth Gender-Affirming Care
On August 13, 2026, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published its final rule banning the use of federal funds — through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — to pay for gender-affirming care for children and youth. The final rule takes effect October 13, 2026 (“Prohibition on Federal Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program Funding for Sex-Rejecting Procedures Furnished to Children”). While CMS finalized several key elements of its late-2025 proposed rule (Client Alert December 24, 2025), the proposed Medicare hospital Condition of Participation rule remains in proposed form.
Client Alert | 2 min read | 08.19.26
Client Alert | 7 min read | 08.17.26
Delayed Notification of Cyberattacks May Trigger HIPAA Breach Notification Rule
Client Alert | 4 min read | 08.14.26
License to Hack? The White House Greenlights Private-Sector Offensive Cyber Operations
