Three pharmaceutical companies that cheated Missouri’s Medicaid system have agreed to pay $31 million to settle that state’s Medicaid fraud lawsuit. The settlement came at the conclusion of a trial in the case filed by Missouri. A St. Louis Circuit Court jury found that the companies, Warrick Pharmaceutical, Schering Corp. and Schering-Plough Corp., fraudulently overcharged Medicaid for prescription drugs in Missouri. The jury awarded $7.3 million in compensatory damages in the first phase of the trial. Jurors said the State of Missouri proved there was “clear and convincing evidence of outrageous conduct” by the Defendants.

After the first phase, the jury had to decide if punitive damages should be awarded. While the jury was out in the second phase, the companies settled with Attorney General Jay Nixon, who by the way was elected Governor of his state on November 4th. The settlement was agreed to before the jury returned to the court room with a punitive award. The jurors had awarded $100 million in punitive damages and had their verdict ready to be returned to the trial judge. However, the case had already been settled and the companies will now pay $31 million immediately without an appeal. This was a good result for the state and there is now a clear trend in these cases. All of the other companies should now come to the table and settle the remaining cases that are pending in several states, including Alabama.

Source: St. Louis Post Dispatch

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