Newsroom

MEDIA ADVISORY

Baron & Budd P.C. Qui Tam Attorney Laura Baughman Available to Comment on Financial Reform Law/SEC Whistleblower Rewards

DALLAS (August 6, 2010) - The recently signed Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act http://baronandbudd.com/new_whistleblower_provisions provides substantial monetary rewards to whistleblowers who take action against corporate fraud and provides strong protection against retaliation, guarantees confidentiality and includes job security provisions.  The bill covers whistleblowers who report a variety of securities violations including insider trading, money laundering and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (an anti-bribery law). Read More

Russell Budd Announces Opening of Baron & Budd, PC Office in Miami

MIAMI (August 3, 2010) – Russell Budd announced the opening of plaintiff’s law firm Baron & Budd, P.C.‘s new office in Miami, Florida. The new office will offer its services to individuals and businesses with environmental issues as well as those victimized by unsafe drugs and securities fraud. Baron & Budd has been a leader in water contamination litigation and asbestos cases, is currently spearheading the BP Gulf Oil Spill litigation and has been a significant player in defective Chinese Drywall cases. The firm has broad expertise in practice areas that are increasingly important in Florida. Read More

Baron & Budd, P.C. Announces Class Action Lawsuit over Price Fixing Involving Marine Products

LOS ANGELES, Calif.(April 7, 2010) Baron & Budd, P.C. attorneys, working with attorneys from Los Angeles-based Glancy Bingow & Goldberg LLC, New York securities law firm Labaton Sucharow LLP, Mobile-based Vickers, Riis, Murray and Curran, L.L.C. and Galveston attorney A. Craig Eiland, have filed suit in federal district court in Los Angeles over a web of conspiracies to fix prices and rig bids on several marine products. The Board of Trustees of the Galveston Wharves, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans and OSG Lightering LLC., who all purchased marine products that were the subject of the conspiracies, have sued on behalf all those affected by the schemes. Read More

Alaska child psychiatrists named in Medicaid fraud suit

The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights, an Alaska mental health advocacy group, has sued several Alaska child psychiatrists under the federal False Claims Act. The whistleblower organization, which has fought the pharmaceutical industry for years, claims that doctors committed Medicaid fraud by unnecessarily drugging children with medications not approved for the prescribed purposes. The suit is also directed at pharmacies, health service agencies and state officials. Read More

Former employees sue Blackwater for defrauding U.S.

Blackwater Worldwide, the already notorious private security company hired by the government in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been sued by two of its former employees in a False Claims Act lawsuit originally filed in December 2008. The ex-workers allege that for years the company has filed fraudulent receipts, double billed for services and charged the government for prostitutes and strippers. The deception, according to the lawsuit, involved the company's work in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. In addition, the whistleblowers accuse Blackwater of ignoring the use of “excessive and unjustified” force by Blackwater guards against Iraqi civilians. Read More

Massachusetts makes record-breaking securities recovery settlement

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has reached a settlement with State Street Bank & Trust Company in connection with allegations that the institution misled fund investors concerning risky investments. The agreement also covered allegations that State Street neglected to provide investors with information necessary to decide whether to remain invested in various collective trust funds managed by the institution's fixed income portfolio management team. Coakley's suit was filed pursuant to the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act and the state's False Claims Act. Read More

Massachusetts A.G. sues limousine company under state False Claims Act for evading tolls

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has filed suit under that state's False Claims Act against a limousine company that allegedly evaded paying higher commercial tolls by using personal or carpool transponders at Fast Lane toll machines on the Massachusetts Turnpike. The A.G.'s lawsuit against Wakefield-based Northeastern Limousine was one of three similar suits filed against limousine companies in Suffolk Superior Court. The other two suits were brought against Everett-based Broadway Limousine and Waltham-based Newton Limousine, Inc. All three suits seek triple damages and separate fines for each time the limousine operators used a personal transponder for commercial purposes. Read More

Atricure settles whistleblower lawsuit over improper marketing of medical devices

Atricure Inc., a medical device manufacturer based in West Chester, Ohio, has settled a False Claims Act suit with the United States government. The manufacturer has agreed to pay a handsome amount to resolve charges that it improperly marketed its surgical ablation devices to treat atrial fibrillation. Surgical ablation devices work by focusing energy on a patient’s organs to create planned scar tissue. But Atricure's devices have not been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use with atrial fibrillation. It is a breach of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to market medical devices for unapproved uses and a violation of the False Claims Act to seek reimbursement from government health programs in connection with such unapproved uses. Read More

Baron & Budd’s Patrick O’Connell Speaks Out in Support of Maryland False Claims Act

Because of his experience as a former Texas Assistant Attorney General and his service as Chief of the Texas Civil Medicaid Fraud Section, Baron & Budd attorney Patrick O’Connell is frequently called upon to testify or comment on issues involving state or federal false claims acts. Most recently, he was quoted in support of attempts to pass a state false claims act in Maryland this year. Read More

Louisiana cardiologist sued by Justice Department for False Claims Act violations

Dr. Mehmood Patel, an interventional cardiologist formerly practicing in Lafayette, Louisiana, has been sued by the United States in a False Claims Act suit asking for treble damages and penalties. The lawsuit claims that Dr. Patel performed medically unnecessary cardiovascular procedures and then billed Medicare for it. Dr. Patel has already been convicted on 51 criminal counts for his fraudulent conduct. Patel received a 10-year prison sentence for performing unnecessary cardiac angiograms, angioplasties and stents. Read More