Other Litigation
Lowey Dannenberg provides comprehensive legal representation of whistleblowers, employees, and consumers who have suffered injuries as a result of unfair business practices. Our attorneys represent clients in the following areas of practice:
Qui tam practice
For more than a decade, Lowey Dannenberg Cohen & Hart, P.C. has represented the nation’s largest and most sophisticated health benefits payers in complex cost recovery lawsuits. We regularly represent Aetna, Humana, CIGNA, WellPoint, numerous Blue Cross plans, and large self-funded employer benefit plans, such as Verizon, in actions to recover overpayments for health care products and services.
Using the same skills that have enabled the firm’s lawyers to recover hundreds of millions of dollars for private clients asserting similar claims in civil litigation, Lowey Dannenberg has broadened its practice to file qui tam false claim recovery lawsuits in the name of the United States under the False Claims Act.
While the confidentiality provisions of the False Claims Act limit our ability to identify the firm’s pending qui tam actions, we can disclose that in 2009, Lowey Dannenberg filed two separate qui tam relater actions in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Both complaints are still sealed. One concerns a scheme by a major United States pharmaceutical company, in tandem with New York City hospital personnel, to systematically send fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medicaid. The other concerns fraud against the United States Treasury Department involving financial products. We are at various stages of investigation of several other qui tam matters, principally involving Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
We have prosecuted major scale civil fraud recovery actions in conjunction with parallel qui tam actions for several years. For example, while the qui tam bar pursued what was at the time one of the largest civil Medicare and Medicaid fraud cases in history alleging that TAP Pharmaceuticals paid doctors kickbacks to over-prescribe the cancer drug Lupron, Lowey Dannenberg prosecuted a civil action and ultimately negotiated a $110 million settlement for private third party payers. In re Lupron Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation, No. 01-cv-1061 (D. Mass.).
Similarly, in the wake of Pfizer’s $400 million settlement of a qui tam action, Lowey Dannenberg will begin a bellwether trial in February 2010 on behalf of Aetna and Kaiser against Pfizer to recover overpayments resulting from Pfizer’s fraudulent promotion of the anti-epileptic drug Neurontin® for off-label uses at an excess cost to private U.S. third-party payers of more than $1 billion. We represent other major health insurers as well, and the bellwether trial will influence the course of litigation for these other clients. In Re Neurontin Marketing and Sales Practices Litig., MDL No. 1629 (D. Mass.).
The firm has had similar experiences pursuing civil claims parallel to False Claims Act cases concerning other drugs and devices.
Lowey Dannenberg is different from other law firms pursuing civil cost recovery actions, and different from other law firms prosecuting qui tam actions. We have the experience of years at the forefront of medical and pharmaceutical recovery actions, the depth of 17 full-time lawyers, a support staff of 13, and the resources that make us the plaintiff’s law firm of choice for the most diverse blue chip clientele of health benefits payers of any U.S. plaintiff’s law firms. Lowey Dannenberg brings these same skills and abilities to prosecute Medicare and Medicaid qui tam litigation.
For a review of your potential False Claim Act case, persons and entities with evidence of fraud against federal programs or contracts should contact: Richard Cohen (direct dial 914-733-7239), Gerald Lawrence (914-733-7258), Peter St. Phillip (914-733-7245), or Geoffrey Horn (914-7633-7259), all of whom are shareholders of the firm.
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Richard Cohen is the president of the firm. He represents health insurers in actions to recover amounts overpaid for prescription drugs, medical devices, and medical services. He also represents institutional investors in shareholder litigation involving voting privileges and corporate governance. |
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Gerald Lawrence is a partner at the firm. He represents healthcare recipients and providers in litigation involving ERISA, benefit plans, and health insurance. He has also represented employers in multi-million dollar employment termination suits, software licensing disputes, and bankruptcy recovery litigation. |
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Peter St. Phillip is a partner with the firm. His appellate and trial practice has secured numerous favorable antitrust and cost recovery verdicts and settlements. Mr. St. Phillip has represented hedge funds in insurance coverage litigation. He has also been selected as a dispute resolver for the American Health Lawyers Association. |
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Geoffrey Horn is a partner with the firm. He represents major health insurers, HMOs, employers, and health and pharmacy benefits plans in litigation to recover costs from manufacturers and providers who overcharge for prescription drugs, medical devices or services. In addition, he represents institutions and individuals in a range of securities, commodities and antitrust litigation. |
Wage hour law violations
Lowey Dannenberg represents employees who are forced to work overtime without receiving legally mandated overtime pay. Jeanne D’Esposito and Gerald Lawrence lead this section of the practice.
Currently, the firm is trying a case on behalf of CVS employees in the Federal District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of New York, Case No. 10 Civ. 2075. Employees were forced to page a manager who conducted security checks on their bags and belongings before they could leave for the night. These security checks were conducted off-the-clock and typically lasted half an hour each night. The lawsuit seeks to demonstrate that this employment action is in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New York State labor laws.
The lawsuit further seeks to demonstrate that employees in the Rhode Island based company forced employees to work through meal and rest breaks without compensation. The company also failed to pay overtime wages.
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Jeanne D'Esposito is a partner with the firm. She has extensive experience prosecuting securities fraud litigation, including multi-district class actions on behalf of foreign companies. She also has experience with federal securities and antitrust litigation and consumer law. |
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Gerald Lawrence is a partner at the firm. He represents healthcare recipients and providers in litigation involving ERISA, benefit plans, and health insurance. He has also represented employers in multi-million dollar employment termination suits, software licensing disputes, and bankruptcy recovery litigation. |
Consumer protection
Lowey Dannenberg represents individual victims of consumer fraud in litigation to pursue their legal remedies. We represent clients defrauded though investment and securities, individuals who have been improperly denied trial in the district courts, and other victims of consumer fraud.
Jeanne D’Esposito, Thomas Skelton and Dave Harrison have successfully prosecuted numerous complex consumer fraud actions. Peter St. Phillip heads up the appellate practice.
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Thomas Skelton is a partner of the firm and specializes in complex litigation, with a primary emphasis on securities fraud, merger litigation, corporate governance and statutory appraisal cases. Mr. Skelton also represents clients in arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). |
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David Harrison is a partner with the firm. His practice focuses on prosecuting complex class and individual actions on behalf of large investors, policyholders, consumers, and ERISA plan participants. He also pursues claims against third parties involved in the insolvency and bankruptcy of large financial institutions. |
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Peter St. Phillip is a partner with the firm. His appellate and trial practice has secured numerous favorable antitrust and cost recovery verdicts and settlements. Mr. St. Phillip has represented hedge funds in insurance coverage litigation. He has also been selected as a dispute resolver for the American Health Lawyers Association. |
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Jeanne D'Esposito is a partner with the firm with a proven track record of successfully prosecuting complex consumer fraud actions in state and federal court. She recently obtained a settlement of $6 million in a class action tenant litigation against a Long Island apartment complex, Sorrentino v. ASN Roosevelt Center LLC, 579 F.Supp.2d 387 (E.D.N.Y. 2008), and also achieved a $22.8 million settlement in a consumer fraud action against a major credit card issuer. Broder v. MBNA Corp., No. 605153/98 (Sup. Ct., N.Y. County, April 11, 2003). |
We invite you to click on and review specific information about our attorneys, our practice areas, and our remarkable record of achievement on behalf of our clients.
