The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has once again dismissed a lawsuit filed against Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) by Chris Riedel, former chief executive officer of Hunter Laboratories. The case, originally filed in 2007, was unsealed last year and dismissed by the court in November 2013. The lawsuit alleged that LabCorp violated the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act by overcharging the state Medicaid program and providing kickbacks to health care providers to induce the referral of Medicaid business. The lawsuit was originally filed against LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics, and Specialty Laboratories. In between filing the motion to amend and filing the amended complaint, the relators reached a provisional settlement with Quest and Specialty, which has since been stayed. In dismissing the case against LabCorp for the second time, the court ruled that Hunter Laboratories and the former owner Riedel failed to identify a single false claim. The court dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be amended and refiled. In filing the lawsuit, Hunter and Riedel alleged that LabCorp violated the law by charging the state Medicaid program higher rates than non-Medicaid customers and offering discounts to providers to induce referrals. While the plaintiffs provided…
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