Hospital and healthcare groups across the country submitted a brief in support of petitioners Gosselin World Wide Moving, asking the Supreme Court to bar excessive False Claims Act (FCA) penalties, according to a JDSupra Business Advisor blog post. The FCA creates a civil penalty of $5,000 to $11,000 for each false claim submitted. The Fourth Circuit ruled that a $24 million FCA penalty was not excessive, and the question is whether the court erred in ruling the FCA requires imposition of a separate penalty for each invoice submitted to the government. The brief argues the large penalties do not fit the severity of the damage done to the government. With an increasing number of FCA cases being brought each year by relators and with a large number focused on the healthcare industry, hospitals and other healthcare providers will want to see whether the Supreme Court weighs in on this issue, the post said. Blog post