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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys Report Some Whistleblower Cases Take Years to Resolve

Thirteen years after a Mississippi hospital’s former chief operating officer filed a whistleblower lawsuit, a jury has finally returned a verdict. The lawsuit alleged that the hospital’s owner, his wife, and another individual were receiving fraudulent payments from the Medicaid program. However, the jury verdict is not the final event in the proceedings that will put money back into Medicaid’s pocket as well as the pocket of the whistleblower, who has waited a long time to collect his reward.

The jury found that Ted Cain, the owner of Stone County Hospital, cheated Medicare out of nearly eleven million dollars. That same jury found that Cain’s wife Julie had improperly collected just under ten and a half million dollars in Medicare payments. Tommy Kuluz, who served as CEO of Stone County Hospital, was found to have received just under ten million dollars in fraudulent Medicaid payments. The jury also found the hospital and a management company liable for damages.

In addition to recovering Medicaid funds, the lawsuit will involve the collection of damages and fees. The exact amount of damages and fees is unclear at this time because the judge must still hear arguments on the issue of whether to award triple damages. Triple damages are an available remedy provided by the federal whistleblower law under which the case was filed. Under the federal whistleblower law, the man who filed the lawsuit will be paid a reward that is somewhere between fifteen and twenty-five percent of the damages collected in this case.

James Aldridge had only been on the job as the chief operating officer of Stone County Hospital for two months before he filed the lawsuit. The investigation into his claim took over eight years to complete, and it took several more years for prosecutors to bring the case to trial. Some whistleblower cases have a criminal component to them, but this case does not. The aim of this lawsuit is to return money to the Medicaid program and collect the damages and fines assessed by the court.

Tommy Kuluz completed eleven of the twelve Medicare cost reports that were submitted between 2004 and 2015 to reimburse the Cains’ pay. During the trial, jurors learned that at one point, Ted Cain was earning more than a thousand dollars an hour. He and his wife are proud of the millions of dollars’ worth of investments they made in the hospital. Some of those investments came from their pockets and some which were funded by loan guarantees. However, Ted Cain is unable to produce much documentation of exactly what work he did to earn over fifteen million dollars as the CEO of the hospital. Julie Cain worked as the hospital’s administrator during that same time, earning just under two and a half million dollars even though she was not often present at the hospital.

One of the attorneys for the Cains says his clients plan to appeal the case, which he claims was brought by an unhappy former employee. Aldridge’s attorney says that this case is a powerful example of what jury trials can accomplish, restoring payments to a federal program after the program was cheated out of millions of dollars. 

When individuals defraud federally funded programs like Medicaid, courageous individuals like James Aldridge can help those programs and the people they serve to get their money back. The Mississippi Whistleblower Protection Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC support whistleblowers in their efforts to expose every type of fraud. Call us today, at 1 (601) 790-1505, to arrange an initial consultation with the Mississippi Whistleblower attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC.

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys Says Disclosing Whistleblower Identity May Not Be Illegal But Won’t Be Without Consequence

There’s no denying the intense pressure that is coming from President Trump and others to reveal the name of the whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry that is pending against the president. The building pressure to disclose the whistleblower’s identity gives rise to two critical questions regarding whistleblower protection. First, is revealing the identity of the Trump whistleblower illegal? Second, regardless of whether disclosing the whistleblower’s name is illegal, are there any consequences that the person or people who reveal the whistleblower’s name will suffer if they choose to disclose it?

Government officials within the intelligence and national security community report that for most individuals, disclosing the whistleblower’s name would not break any law. Unfortunately, it appears as though Congress has not built much protection for whistleblowers’ identities into federal law. The only person who is legally prohibited from disclosing the whistleblower’s name is the inspector general, as specified in the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act of 1998. It’s possible that protections for whistleblowers against disclosure by the president or members of Congress have not yet been made law because there has not, until now, been a need for it. Government officials report that over the years, presidents and others within the government have shown whistleblowers tremendous deference and respect, including refraining from naming them publicly. If the president publicly reveals the name of the whistleblower, it would be the first time in history that a president did so.

Fortunately, the potential consequences that might befall a person who chooses to reveal the identity of the Trump whistleblower could prove incentive enough to prevent that disclosure from happening. The possible consequences associated with disclosing the whistleblower’s identity are dependent upon who it is that does the disclosing. For example, if a member of Congress chooses to reveal the whistleblower’s identity, that member of Congress could face legislative sanctions and be removed from some or all of the committees that they are currently a part of. If the president decides to identify the whistleblower, members of the House of Representatives could draft an article of impeachment alleging retaliation against the whistleblower.

The president, government officials, and the media are not the only ones who could face consequences for identifying the Trump whistleblower. If a member of the general public reveals the whistleblower’s name and the whistleblower or anyone in their family suffers harm, the person who made the disclosure could be subject to a civil lawsuit by the whistleblower’s legal team.

The lack of federal protection for whistleblower anonymity that is being exposed by the present efforts to disclose the identity of the Trump whistleblower is likely to discourage other potential whistleblowers who are considering coming forward on any matter. The Mississippi Whistleblower Protection Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC continue to support whistleblowers in their efforts to expose waste, corruption, and fraud. To learn more about whistleblower protection, call us at 1 (601) 790-1505 to arrange an initial consultation with the Mississippi Whistleblower attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC.

 

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Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys Discuss Awards of Legal Fees in Whistleblower Cases

Winning a lawsuit on a whistleblower protection is certainly a victory, but it is a victory that sometimes comes with a price. For Mike McQueary, that price would have been $1.7 million dollars, the amount of legal fees due to his attorneys for their work in representing him in his whistleblower case against Penn State University. Fortunately, a judge recently granted a separate award of $1.7 million dollars to pay for McQueary’s legal fees over and above the $5 million dollar verdict awarded to him in November. In addition to attorneys’ fees, the judge’s most recent verdict contained an award of legal costs for witness fees, transcripts, and the like, as well as a bowl bonus that McQuery would have earned if the University had not suspended him from coaching when it did.

When the judge wrote the opinion which accompanied the award of legal fees, he stated that it is unreasonable to expect whistleblowers to pay their legal fees after they have put their careers and their paychecks on the line to report suspected wrongdoing. According to the judge, awards of legal fees in whistleblower cases are a necessary component of making whistleblowers financially whole and may have the additional positive effect of encouraging other whistleblowers to come forward.

Attorneys for Penn State did not respond to inquiries following the award of attorney fees. They recently filed an additional document in the case, and they would like to see a new trial ordered, the amount of damages reduced, or the verdict overturned. Mike McQueary had reported an incident of sexual abuse that he witnessed in a team shower facility in 2001. University staff did not report the abuse to police or child welfare authorities, and McQueary went on to testify against former head coach Sandusky after Sandusky was arrested in 2011 and charged with forty-five counts of child sexual abuse. After Sandusky’s arrest, the University placed McQueary on paid leave and banned him from University athletic facilities. In 2012, when McQueary’s coaching contract expired, he was terminated. Since he got terminated from his position with the University, he has been unable to find employment.

The Mississippi Whistleblower Protection Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC applaud brave individuals like Mike McQueary, who risk careers that they love to do what they feel is right. It ‘s hard to take a stand in the face of wrongdoing in your workplace, and the abuse that whistleblowers experience as the result of their actions can be extremely damaging both financially and emotionally. If you have suffered retaliation after exposing wrongdoing in your work environment, a Mississippi Whistleblower Attorney may be able to recover the damages that you have experienced. It is possible that you may even be able to recover your legal fees if you prevail in your whistleblower protection lawsuit. To learn more about filing a whistleblower protection lawsuit in Mississippi, call the Mississippi Whistleblower attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC, at 1 (601) 790-1505 to schedule an initial consultation.

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