The False Claims Act (FCA) was enacted to punish and deter fraud against the United States, and to recover moneys obtained through such fraud. Whether an alleged fraud was actually against the United States is a threshold question not posed in the typical FCA case, where allegations usually involve claims for payment submitted to the Army, Navy, Medicare, or other entity clearly part of the federal government. But some cases are not so clear ...
The 2020 Regular Session of the West Virginia Legislature just reached the 30th day, or its half way point. As of today, the House has introduced 1289 bills, while the Senate introduced 725. We will continue reporting on and tracking the progress of significant legislation during the course of the session. During the legislative process, certain critical deadlines are imposed by the Legislature that impact the consideration of pending bills and their chances of success ...
In another step in President Trump's ongoing efforts to relax environmental restrictions impacting economic development, on January 10, 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality published its proposed rulemaking to update its regulations for implementing procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") ("Proposed Rule"). The deadline for filing comments on the Proposed Rule is March 10, 2020 ...
The Governor's Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has recently issued two technical advisories with helpful California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidance on two prominent California land use topics. The first advisory outlines potential CEQA exemptions for immediate-term disaster recovery, with the goal of helping communities and public agencies prepare their climate change adaptation and resilience strategies ...
Near the end of 2007, the United States was hit by the subprime mortgage market meltdown. For years before, the public had experienced a steady increase in home prices and a seemingly never-ending supply of mortgage lending. Homeowners were able to enjoy ever-increasing home equity and mortgage products, virtually guaranteeing that anyone who wanted to get financed could ...
In last quarter’s issue, we discussed the rise of digital currencies and the blockchain, or distributed ledger, technology that supports them. We now turn our focus to how the financial industry and governments have embraced this technology and are working to adapt it to traditional banking services and applications as far ranging as recording property transfers and safeguarding nuclear missiles ...
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has announced several enforcement actions and settlements for violations of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules. OCR Secures Voluntary Resolution with Hospital to Settle Provision of Auxiliary Aids and Services to Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing Individuals On Jan ...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that in Fiscal Year 2019 (FY2019),1 total settlements and judgments in False Claims Act (FCA) cases rebounded back over the $3 billion mark after dipping to $2.9 billion in FY2018. The Department’s annual statistical overview of FCA-related fraud actions2 showed nearly three-quarters of recovered funds, or $2 ...
This article updates information published in "Is Your Online Business Accessible To Persons With Disabilities?" In 2018, practitioners scouring nationwide federal court records identified more than 2,250 lawsuits filed alleging website inaccessibility under Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)1 ...
On 12 December 2019, the new Minister of State Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir, issued new Ministry of State Owned Enterprises Regulation No. PER-08/MBU/12/2019 on General Guidelines on the Implementation by State Owned Enterprises of the Procurement of Goods and Services (“MSOE Reg 8/2019”), which came into force on 16 December 2019. This regulation replaces the previous regulation, MSOE Regulation No. PER-05/ MBU/2008 as amended by MSOE Regulation No ...
As you know, the 2020 Regular Session of the West Virginia Legislature commenced on January 8. As of this writing, the House has introduced 903 bills, while the Senate has introduced 467. We will be reporting on and tracking the progress of significant legislation during the course of the Session. During the legislative process, certain critical deadlines are imposed by the Legislature that impact the consideration of pending bills and their chances of success ...
Why is H-1B Filing Season Important? This is the only time of year (with minor exceptions indicated below) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) accepts H-1B specialty worker petitions for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, 2020 ...
On Jan. 8, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published an informational bulletin titled “Best Practices for Avoiding 340B Duplicate Discounts in Medicaid.”[1] The bulletin outlines seven regulatory strategies State Medicaid agencies may consider when developing policies for preventing the occurrence of duplicate discounts in Medicaid Fee-for-Services (FFS) and Medicaid Managed Care Organization (MCO) programs ...
The 2019 proxy season marked a year of continued changing voting behavior. Though patterns and trends of the past season do not seem to indicate changes beyond marginal impact, the 2019 season can serve to set expectations for the 2020 proxy season ...
New California laws could make it more difficult for employers to enforce employment arbitration agreements and now prohibit “no rehire” language in settlement agreements involving employment disputes. Arbitration Agreements The enforceability of employment arbitration agreements has long been under attack in California ...
With the New Year, California rings in a lot of legislative changes, including a new standard for evaluating independent contractor classifications. Here is what you need to know: Independent Contractors Effective Jan. 1, 2020, Assembly Bill 5 (AB-5) became law in California by adding section 2750.3 to the Labor Code. AB-5 is the legislative response to the California Supreme Court decision in Dynamex v ...
As part of Paraguay's commitment to the International Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT), in November 2019, the Executive Power enacted Law No. 6446 that creates a “General Directorate of People and Legal Structures and Final Beneficiaries ” Under the Ministry of Finance (hereinafter the Law), which will have the following functions: Acting as the authority of application, replacing the Treasury Law, of Law No ...
Following the discourse of the upcoming omnibus law, the government recently announced that it will submit omnibus draft bills on job creation (“Omnibus Law on Job Creation”) and taxation (“Omnibus Law on Taxation”) to the House of Representatives soon.Omnibus law has become an emerging issue ever since it was mentioned during the President’s inauguration speech on 20 October 2019 ...
In November 2019, the Trump administration issued unified agenda of regulatory and deregulatory actions. Within the United States Department of Labor, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (“MSHA”) issued six notices – two in the prerule stage, three in the proposed rule stage, and one in the final rule stage. All of these actions are discussed in further detail below ...
According to the World Bank’s 2019 Doing Business index, Indonesia sits in 73rd position overall out of 190 countries in terms of ease of doing business. President Joko Widodo has set as a target increasing Indonesia’s ranking to 40th position. To boost investment and ease of doing business in Indonesia, in his inauguration speech on 20 October 2019, President Joko Widodo introduced the idea of enacting an Omnibus Law ...
On Dec. 3, 2019, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) in conjunction with the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) issued a joint statement entitled “Providing Financial Services to Customers Engaged in Hemp-Related Businesses ...
In United States v. United States ex rel. Thrower, No. 18-16408, on November 14, a panel of the Ninth Circuit gave a skeptical reception to the Department of Justice (DOJ) argument that the district court’s denial of the government’s motion to dismiss a False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam complaint against Academy Mortgage Corporation (Academy) invaded the government’s “prosecutorial discretion ...
On 7 August 2019 the Federal Administrative Court annulled a Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) order that had limited the price increase of a medicinal product on the list of specialities to two years. The product manufacturer had requested a price increase under Article 67(2) of the Healthcare Insurance Ordinance (SR 832.102), having incurred higher costs following the loss of two suppliers ...
