PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / March 27, 2023 / The law firms Berger Montague and Kleiman/Rajaram announce that they have achieved a $28 million settlement in the qui tam litigation brought by whistleblower Judith Zissa, on behalf of the United States, alleging that Santa Barbara County, California and its Behavioral Wellness Agency (formerly known as the Santa Barbara County Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services) ("BWA") violated the federal False Claims Act by committing Medicaid fraud over the course of many years. This case was filed in 2014 and is captioned United States ex rel. Judith Zissa v. Santa Barbara County Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services, et al., Case No. 14-cv-06891-DMG (C.D. Cal).
Although the federal government declined to intervene, Relator's counsel, Berger Montague and Kleiman/Rajaram, litigated the claims vigorously over the past eight years, defeating the defendants' motion to dismiss their amended complaint, and reviewing hundreds of thousands of pages of documents to establish their client's case.
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