OSHA recently awarded a whistleblower $5.4 million in damages against his former employer, Wells Fargo. This award arises under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), which contains a strong anti-retaliation provision. In this case, the whistleblower was a bank manager who was terminated after reporting separate incidents of bank, mail and wire fraud by his subordinate bankers….
I recently posted a blog regarding my article on in-house counsel as whistleblowers, which is available here. This post is a deeper dive into the Dodd-Frank Act’s protections for attorney whistleblowers and eligibility for bounties under the Act. The Dodd-Frank Act contains anti-retaliation provisions that may relate to in-house counsel as whistleblowers. In particular, the…
I recently published a post for my article on in-house counsel whistleblowers here, and this is a deeper dive into the False Claims Act issues that attorney-whistleblowers may face. Generally, an in-house attorney may be a relator in a Qui Tam action against their employer only if the ethical rules applicable to that attorney would permit…
The recent $10 million jury award to a general counsel turned whistleblower in Wadler v. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Case No. 15-cv-02356 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 20, 2016), which I will address in a deeper dive in a few days, highlights the complexities of whistleblower claims by in-house counsel. I recently published an article on the very issue…
In an interesting turn of phrase that plaintiff’s attorneys will certainly get sick of reading as a rote boilerplate “Standard” in defense motions for summary judgment, the Third Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a whistleblower’s lawsuit under Sarbanes-Oxley’s anti-retaliation provisions. The court stated that the summary judgment standard under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules…
On April 19, 2016, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument regarding a False Claims Act case that could have significant effects for Qui Tam cases in the future. In Universal Health Services Inc. v. U.S. ex rel Escobar the Court will address the distinction between implied versus express certification and between preconditions that relate…