## Facts

- C.R. Bard Inc. (Bard) manufactured and sold medical technologies, including radioactive brachytherapy seeds used to treat certain cancers.
- Bard’s customers included hospitals and other providers that obtained reimbursement for brachytherapy seeds through federal health-care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
- Bard allegedly induced customers to purchase its brachytherapy seeds by offering benefits such as free training programs, rebates, and research grants.
- The alleged inducements allegedly helped Bard popularize its brachytherapy seeds and then increase the price of the seeds.
- Julie Darity worked for Bard as the manager of brachytherapy-contracts administration.
- Darity filed a qui tam action under the False Claims Act (FCA) on behalf of the United States, alleging that Bard defrauded the government and violated the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) by offering unlawful kickbacks tied to purchases of brachytherapy seeds that were ultimately paid for in significant part by federal programs.

## Issues

1. Whether providing free training programs, rebates, and research grants to induce purchases of federally reimbursed brachytherapy seeds can constitute prohibited remuneration under the Anti-Kickback Statute.
2. Whether a manufacturer that allegedly uses such inducements may be liable under the False Claims Act for causing the submission of false or fraudulent claims to Medicare or Medicaid by downstream providers.
3. Whether claims submitted for reimbursement become “false” under the FCA when they are connected to purchases allegedly induced by unlawful kickbacks.

## Decision

- Darity initiated the case as a qui tam action under the FCA alleging AKS-based kickbacks connected to Bard’s brachytherapy seed sales.
- No publicly available court opinion (with a reporter citation or accessible opinion text) is readily available from free public sources for this matter under the cited docket number.
- Public reports about the litigation state that the dispute was later resolved through a civil settlement announced in 2013, under which Bard agreed to pay $48.26 million to resolve FCA allegations concerning brachytherapy seeds.

## Legal Principles

- The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits knowingly and willfully offering or paying remuneration to induce or reward purchases of items or services reimbursable by federal health-care programs.
- The False Claims Act imposes civil liability on any person who knowingly presents, or knowingly causes to be presented, a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the United States.
- FCA theories may reach entities that do not submit reimbursement claims themselves when their conduct is alleged to lead to the submission of claims to federal programs.
- In FCA litigation, alleged kickbacks tied to federally reimbursed items may be used to argue that resulting reimbursement claims were ineligible for payment and therefore false or fraudulent.

## Conclusion

Darity v. C.R. Bard Inc. concerns a former Bard employee’s FCA qui tam allegations that Bard used benefits such as free training, rebates, and research grants to induce purchases of brachytherapy seeds paid for by Medicare and Medicaid, thereby violating the AKS and causing false claims to be submitted; public reports indicate the case ultimately ended in a 2013 civil settlement for $48.26 million, though a publicly accessible judicial opinion for the 2006 docket is not readily available from free sources.


Darity v. C.R. Bard Inc., No. 06-cv-0208-SCJ (2006)