Update from the Ohio Legislative Session -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Frederick Morgan Submit Testimony in Favor of the Ohio False Claims Act
Update from the Ohio Legislative Session — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Frederick Morgan Submit Testimony in Favor of the Ohio False Claims Act.
Ohio's battle to pass a state false claims act continues, with the most recent developments being the addition of a Republican sponsor in the state Senate (i.e., state Sen. Jim Hughes, R-Columbus) and a sponsor in the state House (i.e., Rep. Ross McGregor of Springfield).
As regular readers know, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is leading this battle, and you can find a copy of his testimony here. He has received support recently from power house qui tam lawyers Frederick Morgan and Jennifer Verkamp (of the firm Morgan Verkamp, LLC in Cincinnati).
To read Rick's testimony please click here.
The usual suspects are opposing the bill in full force. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce has trotted out the usual tired arguments with an interesting twist — the normal Chamber party line is that a false claims act will encourage frivolous lawsuits, but in Ohio the argument runs just that the Ohio False Claims Act will encourage lawsuits.
So strictly speaking, because the Ohio False Claims Act will serve as a further regulatory mechanism and ferret out fraud, that argument may well be true.
If you don't believe me, click here.
As readers know, all of the most business-friendly states have state false claims acts. Ohio, by most measures, is at the other end of the business-friendly scale, in terms of tax and otherwise.
General DeWine was smart to make reference to Texas and Virginia in his comments, because I assure you, if false claims legislation encouraged frivolous suits, it would not have lasted in Virginia or Texas so long.....
Stay tuned, more to follow....
Posted by Zachary Kitts at 2/14/2012 12:39 PM 
Categories: legal blogs, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Litigation, False Claims Act, Ohio False Claims Act, State False Claims Act News
Tags: Utility of the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act Virginia Legal Blogs Qui Tam Litigation in Virginia 2012 State Legislation Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
Categories: legal blogs, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, Litigation, False Claims Act, Ohio False Claims Act, State False Claims Act News
Tags: Utility of the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act Virginia Legal Blogs Qui Tam Litigation in Virginia 2012 State Legislation Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
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