Judges debate constitutionality of qui tam penalty

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted February 4, 2022 12:14 PM

The United States suffered $755 in damages because Medicare claims submitted by Pinellas Hematology and Oncology contained incorrect information about the licensing number and address of the Florida laboratory where some blood tests were performed. That seemingly trivial amount was the verdict in Michele Yates’ qui tam case against her former employer. But in addition to automatically trebling the award, Sec. 3729(a)(1) of the False Claims Act also required an additional penalty ranging from $5,500 to $11,000 per violation …

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