California Footwear Company Beats Medicare Fraud Suit

California footwear company Pedorthic Lab Specialist Custom Shoe Company defeated a whistleblower’s suit accusing it of violating the False Claims Act by improperly billing Medicare, with a ruling by the Ninth Circuit.

Whistleblower Arthur Afionyan failed to show that Pedorthic filed any false claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in a nonprecedential decision.

Afionyan also failed to produce any circumstantial evidence showing that any client or consumer of Pedorthic’s products submitted a claim to Medicare, the court said.

Afionyan, a former Pedorthic employee, had alleged that the company’s diabetic orthotics didn’t satisfy Medicare’s customization requirements, ...