Planned Parenthood’s appeal of an interim ruling cannot be considered by the Fifth Circuit, the full court held Wednesday, returning the case to a federal district court that previously said the nonprofit’s attorneys aren’t immune from a False Claims Act lawsuit.
The case involves Medicaid fraud claims brought by a whistleblower referred to as “Alex Doe,” who conducted an undercover investigation to determine whether Planned Parenthood and its affiliates provided fetal tissue to researchers and tissue procurement companies. Doe claims that Louisiana and Texas terminated the Medicaid eligibility of three Planned Parenthood affiliates in response to his investigation, but the affiliates continued to bill Medicaid in violation of the federal anti-fraud statute.
A three-judge appellate panel initially dismissed claims related to actions taken by Planned Parenthood’s attorney-employees, ruling that they have “absolute immunity” from Doe’s claims under federal common law. But the full Fifth Circuit, after vacating that ruling and taking up the case en banc, ruled Wednesday that the court can’t consider the organization’s appeal at this point in the case.
The en banc opinion rejected Planned Parenthood’s argument that the court could consider the attorney immunity issue under the collateral-order doctrine, a legal principal that allows immediate appeals of interim rulings in certain instances. That doctrine doesn’t apply in this case because “resolving the immunity question...
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