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Whistleblower Protection
Grande Law Offices has been at the forefront of litigation aimed at protecting those individuals who report government wrongdoing and are penalized for speaking out. The firm has made a commitment in and out of the courtroom to these individuals to ensure that individual rights to speak out against private and public wrongdoing are preserved. Among Grande Law Offices' recent successes are the following:
Thomas Grande represented two pharmacy technicians who were fired from their job with Bergen Industries, a Fortune 100 firm which owned and operated a pharmaceutical supply company in Hawai'i which supplied Hawaii's nursing homes and state facilities. After complaining that Bergen was reusing drugs which had been returned to the distribution facility, these employees were fired from their jobs. A case was filed under the Hawai'i False Claims act and Bergen paid a total of $4 million to the State of Hawai'i as a result of its fraudulent Medicare billings. Grande Law Offices is committed to representing civic-minded individuals whose courageous actions lead the fight against illegality by public and private employers. $2.5 Million Recovered in Queens Whistleblower Case
Thomas Grande and co-counsel Warren Price of Price Okamoto Himeno & Lum recovered $2.5 million in a qui tam case filed on behalf of two pharmacy technicians at The Queens Hospital in Honolulu.
The case alleged that Queens filed fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims by allowing residents to perform unsupervised medical procedures and allowing medications to be prescribed without the authorization of a supervising physician.
"This case ensures that hospitals and doctors will follow public health insurance guidelines for the elderly who are served by Medicare and the poor who are served by Medicaid," said Mr. Grande. "These guidelines ensure that quality and appropriate medical treatment is given to all of our citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable in our population," he said.
The lawsuit was filed under the federal False Claims Act and Hawaii False Claims Act and was settled with the assistance of the United States Attorneys Office and state Medicaid fraud unit.
Edward H. Kubo, Jr., United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, praised the two whistleblowers for their courage in coming forward with the case.
To see Honolulu Star-Bulletin news coverage, click here. |
