In last month’s issue, we reported on a number of jury verdicts that had been rendered throughout the country in the Medicaid fraud litigation. One of the cases we reported on was the Kentucky jury verdict of $16 Million against Defendant Sandoz. But we have discovered a slight error in our reporting. In the article we stated “the jury found that punitive damages must be imposed in the form of civil damage penalties.” We should have reported that the jury returned a verdict against Sandoz for $16 million and now it is up to the Kentucky trial judge, not the jury, to determine any additional amount of civil penalties over and above the $16 million jury verdict for the fraudulent pricing conduct of the Defendant Sandoz.

We also reported that the “Kentucky jury found 2900 violations” of fraudulent price reporting. However, while it is unclear how many violations Sandoz may have been guilty of, the 2900 violations are what the State of Kentucky had alleged to the trial judge that the civil penalties should be based upon. While the “jury” did not make this finding, the State of Kentucky has argued to the trial court that this is the basis upon which civil penalties must be imposed.

We explained in last month’s article that civil penalties are statutory, punitive in nature, and imposed by the trial judge, all of which is correct information. However, the jury did not find and the jurors do not impose punitive damages in the form of civil damages. Instead, in Kentucky, the trial judge is charged with that duty. The State of Kentucky has a pending motion before the Kentucky trial judge to impose a $2,000 per violation penalty for the alleged fraudulent conduct of Sandoz for false price reporting. We will keep you posted on any new developments that occur in these cases. We regret the errors made in last month’s report on the Kentucky case.