1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |Fourth Circuit Declines to Address Use of Stat Sampling in FCA Cases

Fourth Circuit Declines to Address Use of Stat Sampling in FCA Cases

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.16.17

On February 14, the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion in U.S. ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Cmty. Inc. on one of the two key issues that the district court had certified for interlocutory appeal under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b): (1) whether the government possesses an unreviewable veto authority over proposed settlements and (2) whether statistical sampling is an appropriate methodology for establishing liability and damages in False Claims Act cases. On the first issue, the Fourth Circuit joined the Fifth and Sixth Circuits and held that the government has an unreviewable right to veto FCA settlements even after electing not to intervene. On statistical sampling, the district court had ruled that statistical sampling was not permissible because of the facts and available evidence in the case, but upon review, the Fourth Circuit determined that the appeal of that issue had been “improvidently granted” because the use of sampling is an evidentiary issue, not a pure question of law as required for interlocutory review. Accordingly, companies and FCA practitioners hoping for appellate-level guidance on the controversial issue of sampling will have to wait for another day.

Insights

Client Alert | 6 min read | 03.26.24

California Office of Health Care Affordability Notice Requirement for Material Change Transactions Closing on or After April 1, 2024

Starting next week, on April 1st, health care entities in California closing “material change transactions” will be required to notify California’s new Office of Health Care Affordability (“OHCA”) and potentially undergo an extensive review process prior to closing. The new review process will impact a broad range of providers, payers, delivery systems, and pharmacy benefit managers with either a current California footprint or a plan to expand into the California market. While health care service plans in California are already subject to an extensive transaction approval process by the Department of Managed Health Care, other health care entities in California have not been required to file notices of transactions historically, and so the notice requirement will have a significant impact on how health care entities need to structure and close deals in California, and the timing on which closing is permitted to occur....