On November 4, 2013, after nearly six years of litigation, Johnson & Johnson, the self-proclaimed “family company,” agreed to pay $149 million to the federal government, the states of California, Kentucky, Indiana, and Massachusetts, and the Commonwealth of Virginia, to settle Medicaid fraud claims under the False Claims Act. (Johnson & Johnson Press Release)
The qui tam action alleged that pharmaceutical manufacturer Johnson & Johnson paid Omnicare pharmacies kickbacks for switching nursing home patients from their anti-psychotic to the Johnson & Johnson product Risperdal® to significantly increase sales and profits. Omnicare is the largest pharmacy supplying drugs to nursing homes in the United States. The qui tam lawsuit was brought by Chicago whistleblower law firm Behn & Wyetzner, Chartered and led by qui tam lawyers Linda Wyetzner, Michael Behn, and William W. Thomas. The Philadelphia whistleblower law firm of Kenney & McCafferty, P.C. also worked on the case.
Read Moreabout Johnson and Johnson Pays $149 Million to Settle Risperdal Kickback Case
According to a press release issued by the Department of Justice, the federal government recovered over $3.8 billion from False Claims Act cases in 2013. Of the $3.8 billion, $2.9 billion resulted from whistleblower suits filed under the qui tam provisions of the Act. This is the fourth year in a row recoveries under the False Claims Act have topped $3 billion, and this year’s number is surpassed only by last year’s record-breaking recovery of nearly $5 billion. Although health care fraud continues to drive record recoveries, this year prosecutions of procurement and defense contracting fraud returned a record setting $890 million to the U.S. Treasury.