St. Jude Medical has agreed to pay a $16 million settlement to end a qui tam lawsuit filed by a former employee.

The United States Department of Justice announced the settlement agreement on Tuesday. According to the Justice Department’s claims, St. Jude paid doctors as much as $2,000 per patient to convince them to have the company’s pacemakers and defibrillators implanted. The lawsuit alleged that St. Jude used three post-market studies and a medical device registry as cover for payments to doctors to entice them to implant their heart devices in patients.

The company solicited physicians to participate in the studies to get them to stop using competitor products and to continue to implant their patients with St. Jude devices.

In a press release, issued the same day the settlement was announced, St. Jude claimed that the post-market studies and registries were legitimate clinical studies used to gather “important scientific data.” The company stated the settlement is not an admission of guilt, and that it agreed to the terms to avoid the cost of lengthy litigation.

If you have information on health care fraud, please contact the Qui Tam Attorneys of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP, by calling 202-973-0900.

American Grocers, Inc. has agreed to pay $13.2 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit.

The lawsuit accused American Grocers of engaging in false or fraudulent conduct by shipping food products past or near their expiration dates to United States troops stationed in the Middle East. The settlement was reached more than five years after whistleblower Delma Pallares filed the lawsuit.

Pallares’ attorney, Joel Androphy, said he is pleased with the resolution. “Despite her fears of retaliation, Delma came to us with a compelling story,” Androphy said. “The supporting evidence demonstrated a brazen effort to manipulate expiration dates.” During a federal raid of an American Grocers warehouse federal agents witnessed employees changing expiration dates on food products.

By bringing a Qui Tam lawsuit, a whistleblower helps expose fraud against the government and can receive between 15 and 30 percent of the amount recovered in the lawsuit. If you have information of fraud against the government, please contact the Qui Tam lawyers of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP, by calling 202-973-0900.

Allstate Insurance has been named in a qui tam lawsuit, which alleges the company inflated the price of claims filed with the National Flood Insurance Program.

The whistleblower lawsuit was filed more than three years ago by attorney John H. Denenea, Jr. The lawsuit contends Alstate “knowingly fabricated” insurance documents to decrease its own claims payments and inflate flood losses at the expense of the federal government.

The lawsuit, originally filed in United States District Court in New Orleans, was under seal until September 21 of this year. The three year delay was to allow the federal government time to decide if it would intervene in the lawsuit. Denenea turned over all the documents in his possesion to the federal government three years ago. Judge Carl Barbier unsealed the case, explaining that the government “is not intervening at this time.”

As a whistleblower Denenea is seeking a trial and between 25 to 30 percent of any damages awarded. Had the government intervened in the case, Denenea would be entitled to 15 to 25 percent of any proceeds derived from the lawsuit.

If you are a whistleblower with information of fraud against the government, it is important to have an understanding of your legal rights and options. The Qui Tam attorneys of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP, will help guide you through the complicated legal process of filing a whistleblower lawsuit. Please call 202-973-0900 today.