Corporate Outsiders – On The Wrong Side Of The Circuit Split On Rule 9(b)

A district court in the Middle District of Florida issued a new decision that will continue to make it challenging for corporate outsiders to successfully pursue a declined qui tam complaint – at least in the Eleventh Circuit. In U.S. ex rel. Chase v. Lifepath Hospice, Inc., et al., No. 10-cv-1061, 2016 WL 5239863 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 22, 2016), the court dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) complaint based on the heightened pleading requirement of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). The complaint, which alleged that defendants billed Medicare for hospice care that was either never provided or provided to ineligible patients, was dismissed primarily because the plaintiff did not adequately allege that false claims were actually submitted to the government. While the court held that the plaintiff had described a "private scheme in detail, to include facts as to some disturbing medical practices, she has not alleged 'facts as to time, place, and substance of the defendant's