Strom Ex Rel. United States v. Scios, Inc.

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS

This case involves allegations by the United States that Defendants Scios Inc. and Johnson & Johnson (collectively, “Defendants”) fraudulently caused thousands of doctors to submit false claims for reimbursement under Medicare and other federally organized health programs. The United States argues that this scheme violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. § 3729 (a)(1). Defendants move to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim and under Rule 9(b) for failure to make allegations with sufficient particularity. As to the 12(b)(6) arguments, Defendants contend that the claims submitted by doctors to Medicare were not actually false, and that the False Claims Act should not be used to second guess decisions made by doctors. As to the 9(b) arguments, Defendants contend that the Complaint fails sufficiently to specify the details of the individual claims and that the claims were extrapolated from an insufficiently precise algorithm. Further, Defendants argue that the Complaint fails to allege a causal link between Defendants’ actions and the submission of some of the claims to Medicare and other federal programs.

Plaintiffs…