By Mani Dabiri | Published May 26, 2019 | Posted in Civil Business Litigation and Investigations, Government Subpoenas and Investigations, White-Collar and Regulatory Defense | Tagged Tags: civilmonetarypenalties, excessivefines, healthandhumanservices, healthcare, HHS, HIPAA, mensrea |
HHS Reduces HIPAA’s Maximum Fines
Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would no longer apply the same maximum fines to all HIPAA violations regardless of fault or blameworthiness. Before, the agency used the same maximum annual penalty, $1.5 million, for all violations regardless of whether or not you knew you violated HIPAA; whether or not you Read More
Read MoreThe Eighth Amendment Applies to the States in Full
The Eighth Amendment consists of one sentence: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Until Wednesday, it wasn’t clear if the part about excessive fines applied to the individual states. In fact, you may not know this, but the entire Bill of Rights applied only to Read More
Read MoreWhite-Collar to Blue-Collar in One Day
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two notable decisions on the same day. One was a civil white-collar case, the other a criminal drug-trafficking case, and in both cases, the Court reversed the lower-court ruling on appeal. In the civil case, the Court imposed a five-year statute of limitations on SEC cases that seek to disgorge profits. That’s Read More
Read MoreIf Prison Walls Could Talk
Here’s an interesting story about a just-released report on prison reform, with a kick: it’s written by the prisoners. The authors are five inmates, all first-time offenders, who have spent a combined 95 years in the Texas prison system. They write from their own experiences and those of others, but many of their observations apply across Read More
Read MoreDouble, Triple Whammies and Rewards
Speaking of the False Claims Act, get ready to buckle up. Starting Monday, an interim final rule by the U.S. Justice Department will nearly double the statute’s civil monetary penalties for each false claim. The minimum penalty will go from $5,500 to $10,781, and the maximum penalty will go from $11,000 to $21,563. For defendants, this means you’re looking at a Read More
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