On April 21, 2022, the Northern District of Georgia granted a motion to dismiss a False Claims Act (“FCA”) suit brought against ERMI LLC (“ERMI”), a medical device manufacturer, describing the complaint as a “shotgun pleading.” This action was brought by Relator Elizabeth Cooley, ERMI’s former chief compliance officer. Cooley alleged that ERMI, its CEO Dr. Thomas P. Branch, and other defendants defrauded federal insurance programs in violation of the FCA by overbilling tens of millions of dollars.

Specifically, Cooley’s complaint alleged that ERMI billed the Government for equipment that was not medically necessary, was priced above market rates, or otherwise did not conform to government standards across five different fraud schemes. In addition, Cooley alleged that ERMI regularly provided cash and free equipment to clinicians who agreed to prescribe ERMI products to patients covered by federal health care programs, in violation of federal anti-kickback statutes. Cooley alleged ERMI fired her in retaliation for her attempts to resolve these compliance issues.

Cooley filed her initial complaint in October 2020, and the government declined to intervene in July 2021. Subsequently Cooley filed the amended complaint at issue in September 2021.

Defendants in the case moved to dismiss on the basis that Cooley’s complaint had impermissibly bundled “multiple claims for relief and multiple theories of liability into single counts, and its allegations lump together multiple...

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