United States ex rel. Welch v. My Left Foot Children's Therapy, LLC
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In Brief
In September 2017, TELG client Mary Kaye Welch defeated her former employer’s attempt to push Ms. Welch’s fraud claims — filed on behalf of taxpayers — out of an open courtroom and into private arbitration.
What Happened in Court
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the holding of a federal district judge, who had held that Ms. Welch’s former employer could not rely on the boilerplate text of a hiring agreement to force her False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit into arbitration. Each court cited a different rationale: The appeals court said that the language of Ms. Welch’s hiring agreement didn’t cover an FCA claim, while the district judge said that FCA claims rightly belong to the government anyhow — so they can’t be contracted away, except by the government. Either way, Ms, Welch can proceed toward a jury with her case.
(Last updated: September 2017.)
Attorneys In This Case
David L. Scher
