Thursday, June 28, 2007

Texas School Districts Face Social Security Fraud Allegations

Joe Fried of the Public Program Testing Organization has filed a suit against the Somerville Independent School District and three other Texas school districts.  The suit alleges that the districts hired retired teachers for one day, qualifying the teachers for Social Security benefits that they otherwise would not have been eligible to receive.

Federal laws were enacted in 2004 to stop school districts from using this loophole.

Damages in the lawsuit could amount to about $49 million in the Somerville school district alone.

Click here to read the article as reported by Regina Davis in The Eagle about the Qui Tam Lawsuit against Texas School Districts.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Subsidiary of Alliant Techsystems, Inc. Faces False Claims Suit for Faulty Flares

The U.S. Government has joined a qui tam lawsuit against ATK Thiokol Inc., saying that the company knowingly sold flares to the U.S. miilitary that could ignite if dropped from low heights.  The qui tam lawsuit was filed by Kendall Dye, a manager of the ATK flare program, in April of 2006. 

The government requires that flares to meet certain safety requirements, such as being able to withstand a drop of 10 feet without igniting.  The Army and Air Force paid ATK more than $100 million for the flares, which are sold at a price between $700 and $1,000 per flare.  Once they learned of the safety risk, the military discontinued use of the ATK flares.

Click here to read more about the ATK Thiokol Inc. Faulty Flare lawsuit.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Judge dismisses Whistleblower Lawsuit against ITT

A federal judge threw out a lawsuit filed by a whistleblower because the suit had not been filed correctly.  Leonard Le Blanc alleged that defense contractor ITT was overcharging the US Army for security guard services in Bosnia in 2002.  The suit was dismissed because Le Blanc, a former guard for ITT, did not file the suit under seal as required by law.

Click here to read more about the dismissal of the ITT Whistleblower Case Dismissal.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Cathedral Rock Corp. Faces Qui Tam Suit

Federal authorities have launched a $1 million dollar qui tam suit against Cathedral Rock Corp., a company that operated five nursing homes in the St. Louis area. 

In 2003, two nurses filed a whistle-blower lawsuit saying that numerous residents at the facilities suffered from dehydration, weight-loss and bed sores that led to amputations.  In the meantime, the lawsuit claims that Cathedral Rock Corp. was fraudulently billing Medicare for services that it was not providing.

Click here to read more about the Cathedral Rock Corp. Qui Tam Suit.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Eagle Global Logistics Settles Overcharging Allegations

Eagle Global Logistics has paid the United States $300,000 to settle allegations that the company overcharged the U.S. military for renting shipping containers to Iraq between January and June 2006.  The Houston-based company containers were used to ship military cargo from Kuwait to Iraq.

EGL settled a similar suit in August of 2006 over alleged inflation of invoices for military cargo shipments to Iraq.

The suit was brought to the attention of the U.S. Government by whistleblowers David Vavra and Jerry Hyatt, who will receive $36,000 under the qui tam act.

Click here to read more about the Eagle Global Logistics settlement.

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