Profit Seeking Is Not Fraudulent
Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 10.12.12
In United States ex rel. Williams v. Renal Care Group, Inc., the Sixth Circuit found the defendants did not knowingly submit false claims to Medicare when they followed industry practices and sought guidance -- both from outside legal counsel and the government -- on how to follow ambiguous federal regulations, even though the contractors sought to maximize government payments. The court dismissed the idea that contractors "ought to be punished solely for seeking to maximize profits" and rejected the government's argument that the companies had "recklessly" misinterpreted the regulations to do so.
Insights
Client Alert | 2 min read | 11.14.25
Claim construction is a key stage of most patent litigations, where the court must decide the meaning of any disputed terms in the patent claims. Generally, claim terms are given their plain and ordinary meaning except under two circumstances: (1) when the patentee acts as its own lexicographer and sets out a definition for the term; and (2) when the patentee disavows the full scope of the term either in the specification or during prosecution. Thorner v. Sony Comput. Ent. Am. LLC, 669 F.3d 1362, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012). The Federal Circuit’s recent decision in Aortic Innovations LLC v. Edwards Lifesciences Corp. highlights that patentees can act as their own lexicographers through consistent, interchangeable usage of terms across the specification, effectively defining terms by implication.
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.14.25
Microplastics Update: Regulatory and Litigation Developments in 2025
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.13.25
