Qui Tam Cases Settle for $17.9 Million
Rabin Kammerer Johnson announces the settlement of three related qui tam whistleblower cases:
- United States of America, et al., ex rel. Hood v. Lexisnexis Coplogic Solutions, Inc., Civil Case No. 18-cv-20211 (S.D. Fla.)
- State of Florida, ex rel. Hood, v. Lexisnexis Coplogic Solutions, Inc.; Civil Case: 18-CA-001950 (Florida State Court, 2d Judicial Circuit)
- State of Georgia, ex rel. Hood v. LexisNexis Coplogic Solutions, Inc., Civil No. 2019cv320907 (Georgia State Court, Superior Court of Fulton County)
The Firm filed these cases in 2018 and 2019 on behalf of Christopher Hood, a former employee of LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Inc., which is part of a family of companies (“LexisNexis”) that, among other things, enter into contracts with police agencies around the country to sell automobile crash reports online to the general public. Mr. Hood worked on a day-to-day basis interacting with police agency customers. In his qui tam lawsuits, Mr. Hood alleged that LexisNexis under-paid contractually owed fees to police agencies in Florida, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Illinois, Tennessee, the City of Baltimore, California, Miami-Dade County, New Mexico, and Georgia for crash reports.
The case was novel in several respects. First, the Firm alleged a theory known as “reverse false claims.” Most false claims act cases involve a false claims or bills submitted to the Government, such as a Medicare bill for medical services that were not performed. In contrast, a “reverse false claim” takes place when a Defendant fails to pay money that is owed to the Government. In this case, the unpaid sums involved fees that the Defendant owed to local police agencies by way of contracts with those local police agencies involving the online sale of crash reports.
The case covered allegations across multiple states and involved numerous state and municipal governmental entities and police agencies. The law varies from state to state as to whether qui tam suits can be filed on behalf of local municipal governmental agencies, making this a novel and challenging case.
The Florida Attorney General investigated the allegations of Mr. Hood’s case and chose to intervene. Likewise, a multi-state group of Attorneys General led by New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, Illinois and the City of Baltimore also investigated Mr. Hood’s case and chose to intervene. These jurisdictions reached settlements with Defendant.
Thereafter, our Firm negotiated settlements on behalf of police agencies in other jurisdictions, including California, Miami-Dade County, New Mexico and Georgia.
In total, the Defendants agreed to pay approximately $17.9 million to resolve Mr. Hood’s allegations. Defendants denied liability or wrongdoing.
The firm also thanks the outstanding work of the dedicated government lawyers who investigated and worked on this case, including the Attorneys General of Florida, New York, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Illinois as well as the City Attorney for Baltimore, Maryland, and the County Attorney for Miami-Dade County, Florida.
