The Chanler Group

Hospice of Arizona, L.C., American Hospice Management LLC, and American Hospice Management Holdings LLC, have agreed to pay $12 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly defrauding Medicare, the Department of Justice announced today.

Hospice of Arizona and its related entities allegedly engaged in practices that resulted in the admission of ineligible patients, inflated medical bills, and delayed and discouraged staff from discharging patients no longer eligible for hospice care.  As part of the settlement, American Hospice Management Holdings has agreed to enter a corporate integrity agreement with the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services that provides for procedures and reviews to be put in place to avoid and promptly detect similar misconduct.

Medicare hospice benefits are available to patients with a life expectancy of six months or fewer; these patients do not receive care intended to treat or stop their illnesses, and instead receive medical care focused on providing them with relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a terminal illness.

The allegations arose from a lawsuit filed by former Hospice of Arizona employee Ellen Momeyer, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act.  The False Claims Act allows private citizens to bring suit on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery.  Momeyer will receive $1.8 million.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.

The California Attorney General (“CAG”) sent a letter to The Chanler Group (“TCG”) regarding the factual information supporting the Certificate of Merit accompanying the Second Supplemental 60-Day Notice served on Kiss Nail Products and Kiss Products ("Kiss") by Dr. Anthony Held. ("CAG letter," included below).  For reasons stated in the letter, the CAG asked Dr. Held to withdraw his Second Supplemental Notice to Kiss.  The CAG sent a copy of the letter to Kiss just days before Kiss's reply brief deadline on its motion for summary judgment.  Kiss attached the CAG letter to its reply brief in support of its motion for summary judgment.

Dr. Held objected to Kiss's use of the letter in its reply brief, and also filed a motion to strike the CAG letter.  Dr. Held's motion to strike is included below.  When the Marin County Superior Court denied Kiss's motion for summary judgment, the Court ruled that this was not an appropriate case for allowing evidence on reply.

The California Attorney General’s office (“CAG”) wrote to Hirst & Chanler LLP (“H&C”), the predecessor firm to The Chanler Group, regarding Proposition 65 actions commenced by H&C clients alleging that certain lipsticks containing lead were being offered for sale in California without the required health hazard warning.

The California Attorney General’s office (“CAG”) sent a letter to Hirst & Chanler (“H&C”), the predecessor firm to The Chanler Group, in response to a letter H&C had sent to the California Public Health Trust on May 8, 2007, advising the Public Health Trust that H&C would be seeking to modify the settlements of three cases to change the use of the settlement funds. 

During the first two months of 2013, clients of The Chanler Group secured civil penalties under Proposition 65 totaling up to $936,500 through settlement agreements with retailers and manufacturers who allegedly imported, distributed, or sold consumer products in California containing chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm, without first providing the required health hazard warning.

Fully three-fourths of the civil penalties obtained in settlements is designated for California's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), the lead agency responsible for implementing Proposition 65.  The remaining 25% of civil penalties is designated for the clients of The Chanler Group who identified the violations of Proposition 65 and issued notices to the alleged violators.  In lieu of additional civil penalties, an additional $29,000 was paid to Silent Spring Institute, a non-profit research organization dedicated to identifying the links between environmental chemicals and cancer.

Notable among the Proposition 65 settlements reached by TCG clients so far in 2013 are agreements regarding:

• Fiskars Brand tools that allegedly contain the phthalate DEHP, a chemical known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm
• Hard Rock Café flame-cooked burgers that allegedly contain polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer
• Evriholder Products ceramicware that allegedly contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause reproductive harm

Proposition 65, or "The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986," requires manufacturers and retailers to provide warnings if products they offer for sale contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm.  OEHHA maintains a list of over 800 of these chemicals, including lead, cadmium, arsenic, formaldehyde, phthalates such as DEHP and BBP, and flame retardants known as chlorinated Tris.

Learn more about The Chanler Group’s Proposition 65 practice.