United States ex rel. Ganesa Rosales, etc. v. Amedisys North Carolina, L.L.C., et al.

Wilmington, North Carolina false claims act lawyers represented the Plaintiff on a qui tam claim.



The False Claims Act's first-to-file rule allows only one relator at a time to pursue

a False Claims Act claim related to a given fraud. Here, the district court dismissed the

case of Plaintiff-Relator, Ganesa Rosales, against Amedisys North Carolina, LLC, and two

other defendants, because another relator beat her to the punch by five years.



But Rosales argues that her claims were distinct from those in the earlier-filed

complaint. She contends, in part, that the district court erred by refusing to consider new

claims she asserted in an amended complaint.



In October 2014, nurse Jackie Byers began working for Amedisys Holding's South

Carolina subsidiary and noticed what she later alleged were "fraudulent practices”—

namely, that Amedisys Holding was admitting and recertifying patients "for hospice care

who [did] not meet hospice requirements.” J.A. 12.1 Months later, on August 14, 2015,

Byers filed a qui tam complaint on behalf of the United States in the District of South

Carolina against Amedisys Holding and its South Carolina subsidiaries ("Original Byers

Complaint”).

Affirmed