United States ex rel. Bledsoe v. Community Health Systems, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
501 F.3d 493 (6th Cir. 2007)
Hospital employee Bledsoe (plaintiff/relator) sued Community Health Systems and its hospital (defendants) under the False Claims Act, alleging a broad fraudulent billing scheme including services never rendered, unbillable procedures, miscoding, and inflated charges; after an earlier dismissal with prejudice was reversed for prematurity, Bledsoe's further amended complaint again faced dismissal of numerous claims for failing to satisfy Rule 9(b)'s particularity requirement.
Whether a plaintiff alleging a fraudulent scheme against the government in violation of the False Claims Act must plead the allegations with particularity under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b).