^$24 Million

False Claims Act / Whistleblower Settlement

The largest False Claims Act recovery in Montana history. Representing a whistleblower CFO for a large Montana medical facility, Paul Odegaard acted co-counsel with lead counsel, Bryan Vroon, an Atlanta-based attorney, to bring sweeping complaints of wrongdoing to investigators with the Offices of Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice, which launched a two-year investigation. The six-count lawsuit, filed in United States District Court, District of Montana, centered on alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, a criminal law prohibiting financial arrangements between doctors and hospitals or other health-care providers or companies, and the civil Stark statute, a federal physician self-referral law designed to prevent financial incentives for physicians to steer patients to particular providers from whom they stand to reap benefits. The settlement agreement included a payment to the Federal government and State of Montana in the combined amount of $24 million.