Walgreens Fends Off Whistle-Blower’s Gift Card Fraud Allegations

The absence of any examples of alleged false claim submissions doomed a False Claims Act lawsuit against Walgreens, an appeals court said in affirming the lawsuit’s dismissal Jan. 26 (United States ex rel. Hirt v. Walgreen Co., 2017 BL 20881, 6th Cir., No. 16-6232, 1/25/17).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit minced no words in holding the complaint filed by whistle-blower Andrew Hirt fell far short of meeting the FCA’s requirement that fraud allegations be stated with particularity. The FCA’s heightened pleading standards are meant “to prevent, not facilitate, casual allegations of fraud,” ...