Qui Tam Lawsuit Against CVS - Florida Settlement
By paying $36.7 million, CVS Caremark Corporation settled Bernard Lisitza’s allegations that it unlawfully defrauded Medicaid by switching prescriptions for ranitidine, the generic form of the brand-name drug Zantac®. The United States, 23 states and the District of Columbia, and qui tam Relator Bernard Lisitza claimed that CVS improperly caused its pharmacies to switch Medicaid patients’ prescriptions from ranitidine tablets to ranitidine capsules in order to charge the government a higher price. The conduct covered by the settlement lasted for more than six years, from April 1, 1999 through December 31, 2006. The Complaint was brought by the qui tam relator in 2003, under federal and state False Claims Acts, after he witnessed the conduct and reported the problem to the government. The investigation and prosecution was led by the Attorneys General Offices in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio and several other states, and by the United States Attorney’s Office in Chicago. Qui tam Relator Lisitza pursued the case with the assistance of his attorneys, Michael I. Behn and Linda Wyetzner, of Behn & Wyetzner, Chartered in Chicago.
