U.S. District Court Dismisses United States of America v. Kernan Hospital
In Groundbreaking Decision, Finds U.S. Government Failed to Demonstrate Its Allegations of Fraud
BALTIMORE, Aug. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The United States District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed United States of America v. Kernan Hospital, finding that the U.S. Government Failed in its allegations of fraud.
Ray Shepard of Smith, Gildea & Schmidt, LLC, attorney for the Defendant, noted the rarity of the decision. "It is not typical that a case brought by the U.S. Government is dismissed entirely in U.S. District Court," he said. "The dismissal of this case shows what we have stated all along: that the evidence implicating Kernan Hospital just isn't there. It is a major win and we are so pleased with the outcome of this case."
After reviewing the pleadings, hundreds of exhibits, and an extensive hearing, the Court found that the Government failed in its allegations of fraud under the False Claims Act. In its opinion the Court stated that the Government's complaint failed "...to identify the who, what, when, where and how of the alleged fraud." The Court goes on to point out that the Complaint does not identify a single false claim actually submitted to the government for payment.
Shepard offered the following statement about the case:
"Kernan Hospital has always maintained that it did nothing dishonest or fraudulent in this case. Contrary to some early news reports that appeared when the government filed its complaint, Kernan did not misrepresent an outbreak of Kwashiorkor (in fact, diagnoses of kwashiorkor were rare at Kernan) and did not act to artificially increase its reimbursement. We agree completely with the District Court's holding that the Government's Complaint fell far short of adequately alleging fraud."
About Smith, Gildea & Schmidt, LLC:
Smith, Gildea & Schmidt is a regional law firm with 13 lawyers whose practice areas include complex civil litigation, land use, estates and trusts, False Claims Act and Qui Tam litigation, business law, governmental affairs, and domestic relations, among others. The firm's clients range from multinational corporations to individuals with particular legal needs. The practice encompasses most of the jurisdictions in the State of Maryland and the complex civil litigation section has vast courtroom experience in both the federal and state courts.
SOURCE Smith, Gildea & Schmidt, LLC
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