Thursday, April 27, 2006

Red Cross under Increased Scrutiny for Lax Blood Safety

Today’s Wall Street Journal offers a story that chronicles the increased scrutiny that the American Red Cross has come under since a 2004 whistleblower case alleged that 607 pints of contaminated blood were released in New Jersey, even though senior Red Cross officials knew they had been collected improperly and exposed to air, a violation of Red Cross procedures and federal regulations.

The Red Cross is fighting this case, which was filed under the Federal False Claims Act in 2004 and unsealed last November after the Justice Department declined to pursue it. In its response to the suit, the Red Cross has described the case as “a classic parasitic lawsuit” and says that the whistleblower’s dismissal two years ago was related to her job performance and not to her complaint. But the Red Cross hasn’t challenged the FDA’s investigation of the incident.

Click the following link for a full account of the whistleblower case against the Red Cross. (Subscribers only)

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Florida Legislature introduces Measure that could give Bank of America Pass in Whistleblower Suit

Bank of America may have found some unlikely allies—the Florida legislature—in a whistleblower case that charges it failed to report unclaimed funds it accumulated during routine inter-bank accounting errors. According to a story in yesterday’s Miami Herald, lawmakers in both houses of the Florida legislature have offered amendments to laws that would absolve the bank of any wrongdoing.

By law, those unclaimed funds—which the whistleblower’s lawyers say could amount to more than $100 million—should have been turned over to the Florida Department of Financial Services and Department of Education after five years. Click the following link to read about this development in the Bank of America whistleblower case.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Federal Appeals Court Expands Whistleblower Definition

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that information obtained from the government through public means may form the basis of a False Claims Act complaint, which will make it easier for non-governmental employees to sue government contractors for fraud.

Click the following link to read about the ruling, and its impact on qui tam law, in law.com.

Monday, April 17, 2006

Did Boeing Knowingly build 737s with Questionable Parts?

A feature in today’s Washington Post chronicles the case of whistleblower Jeannine Prewitt’s charge that Boeing assembled bodies of its 737 jetliner with parts that simply didn’t fit. According to Prewitt, workers in Boeing’s Wichita plant regularly drilled new holes in the plane’s airframe when the pre-drilled holes didn’t line up. And documents reviewed by The Post show that quality managers reported numerous problems at parts company AHF Ducommun in memos recorded in Boeing’s system for monitoring its suppliers. Whether questionable parts ended up in hundreds of Boeing 737s is the subject of a bitter dispute between the aerospace company and Prewitt and two other whistleblowers. The two sides also have enormously different views on what that could mean for the safety of the jets. Click on the following link to read the false claims story.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Florida to prosecute Security Company for False Claims

Florida’s attorney general decided Monday to prosecute a false-claims case against the global firm Convergys, accused by a whistle-blower of fraudulently claiming it had security systems to protect the identities of state workers after it won Florida’s massive human-resources management contract.

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist’s decision to pursue the case follows years of troubles tied to Convergys’ $350 million contract—called ‘’People First!’’ and the largest privatization effort in the state—to computerize and centralize Florida’s human-resources system since 2002.

Click the following link to read the complete false claims story at miami.com.

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