Caitie is a commercial litigator who defends clients facing government investigations and whistleblower complaints regarding alleged violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and similar state laws. Caitie also handles complex commercial litigation for health care, life sciences, and biotechnology companies, and defends national product liability cases for pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Caitie represents and defends health plans, Medicare Advantage Organizations, and pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers against alleged violations of the FCA and the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). She advises and counsels her clients in government or internal investigations, litigation, and at trial or arbitration. She also defends pharmaceutical and biotech companies in national product liability cases. Caitie is well versed in complex e-discovery frequently handling large data matters for litigation, internal investigations, and government inquiries.
Caitie’s practice includes advising highly regulated clients in permitting and application processes, administrative agency appeals, and in subsequent appeals of agency decisions in state court. Caitie regularly works with clients to draft pre- and post- hearing briefs as well as prepare and defend company personnel and expert witnesses during the appeal process.
Caitie also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing individuals in civil rights, housing, and immigration matters, including asylum seekers. Most recently, she worked on a pro bono appeal on behalf of the Wildlands Trust, a non-profit land conservation organization. During law school she was a student representative for the Clinic for Asylum, Refugee, and Emigrant Services and served as a law clerk extern for the Honorable Joel H. Slomsky in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Experience
Health Care Enforcement Defense:
- Defended numerous clients, including health plans, laboratories, and Medicare Advantage Organizations, in government FCA investigations and FCA litigation in jurisdictions around the country.
- Advised Medicare Advantage plans in connection with civil investigative demands related to risk adjustment activities.
- Represented large medical supply company in connection with a whistleblower action alleging that the resolution of certain rebate disputes with a Medicare Advantage Organization resulted in illegal kickbacks and violation of the federal FCA.
Product Liability Defense:
- Part of the team that obtained summary judgment in ten out of ten related cases against our clients, a publicly traded biotechnology company and a pharmaceutical company, in multi-jurisdictional product liability disputes involving an FDA-approved drug.
Complex Commercial Litigation:
- Helped to secure dismissal on behalf of a former Saudi intelligence official in a case brought by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund and its subsidiaries, alleging our client embezzled billions of dollars.
- Won a complete dismissal with prejudice of a $3 billion RICO case filed against our client, Wynn Resorts in the District of Massachusetts. The case was brought by Sterling Suffolk Racecourse as part of an ongoing legal battle with Wynn over competing casino projects in the greater Boston area. The matter involved a collection of salacious allegations cutting across multiple jurisdictions, but our team was ultimately successful in arguing that Suffolk had failed to prove a pattern of racketeering activity, a necessity in a RICO case.
- Representing energy company in administrative appeals of wetlands and Chapter 91 waterways permitting for natural gas infrastructure.
- Successfully defended energy company against administrative appeals of an Air Quality Plan Approval for natural gas infrastructure.
- Part of the team representing gaming company Wynn MA, LLC surrounding community arbitrations against Somerville and Chelsea.
- Represented the general contractor on major hospital renovation project against bankrupt millwork subcontractor’s performance bond surety in a 9-day arbitration for delay and impact damages.
viewpoints
Consumer Suits Against Gerber Baby Foods Dismissed
November 10, 2022 | Blog | By Caitie Hill
On October 17, 2022, the District Court granted Gerber Products Company’s (“Gerber”) motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit in which Plaintiffs had alleged that Gerber deceptively led consumers to believe their baby food products were “healthy” and “safe” despite allegedly containing unsafe levels of toxic metals
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Obtaining Justice for a Judicial Advocate
October 27, 2022 | Article
Mintz represented a former Turkish judge in his six-year odyssey to obtain asylum in the United States, preparing his application, voluminous exhibits, and a persuasive brief and guiding him through the asylum interview process.
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Six Contracting Tips for Property Owners and Real Estate Developers to Protect Themselves from Contractor Distress and Related Bankruptcy Filings
May 5, 2021 | Blog | By Caitie Hill, Tim McKeon, Samuel M. Tony Starr
A reminder for how property owners and real estate developers can protect themselves – and their projects – from downstream distress. There are six key issues that owners should consider when contracting for their next project.
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FDA Releases Ambitious Action Plan for Further Reducing Children’s Exposure to Toxic Elements from Foods
April 28, 2021 | Blog | By Joanne Hawana, Jane Haviland, Caitie Hill
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), industry, policymakers, and consumers share a common goal of ensuring that the foods and beverages Americans eat and drink are safe, and the law has long prohibited the adulteration of a food that “contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health.” As science and technology advance, so too does our collective understanding of what that famous statutory phrase from the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act should mean. Accordingly, FDA’s mission in overseeing the safety of the food supply is constantly subject to change. One excellent example of that is playing out in real time, because due to enhanced methods of detecting toxic elements in food, consumer interest groups and Congress have raised questions about FDA’s apparent lack of interest in looking for potential contaminants in our foods (even as available data show that the levels of some metals, like lead, have been in a general decline in the food supply as manufacturing also becomes more sophisticated and controlled and industry invests in better detection methods in the advancement of the shared goal of food safety).
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Health Care Enforcement Year in Review & 2021 Outlook
February 18, 2021 | | By Eoin Beirne, Brian Dunphy, Karen Lovitch, Kevin McGinty, Samantha Kingsbury, Keshav Ahuja, Grady Campion, Jane Haviland, Caitie Hill
Despite the threat of COVID-19 paralyzing much of the country in 2020, government health care fraud enforcement continued even though the Department of Justice (DOJ) had the added burden of pursuing COVID-19 related fraud. Mintz’s Health Care Enforcement Defense team has reviewed the key policy issues, statistics, settlements, and court decisions from 2020, and in this report we reflect on those developments and also predict the trends in health care enforcement in 2021 and beyond.
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Seventh Circuit Adds to Circuit Split Over Standard for DOJ Dismissals in FCA Cases
August 25, 2020 | Blog | By Laurence Freedman, Geoffrey Friedman, Caitie Hill
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided a case that created a new standard to assess requests by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss declined qui tam (whistleblower) suits under the False Claims Act (FCA). See U.S. ex rel. CIMZNHCA LLC V. UCB Inc. et al., No. 19-2273 (7th Cir. 2020). Prior to this decision, federal Courts of Appeals applied either the Sequoia Orange standard or the Swift standard, discussed below. In this decision, the Seventh Circuit opined that the standard should be informed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 41, and this standard “lies much nearer to Swift.” The Seventh Circuit also decided a key jurisdictional issue: whether the United States can appeal a denial of its motion to dismiss a declined qui tam action. Again, taking a new tack, the panel resolved this issue by construing the motion to dismiss also as a motion to intervene and construing the district court’s decision as a denial of that motion, thus obviating the need to invoke the collateral order doctrine.
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Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office Enters into MOU with Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery
July 30, 2020 | Blog | By Karen Lovitch, Caitie Hill
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling recently announced that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Special Inspector General Brian D. Miller of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery to investigate and prosecute fraud in the distribution of the funds authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security.
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COVID-19 Relief Programs: The Anticipated Wave of False Claims Act Cases and Oversight Agency Enforcement Activities
July 2, 2020 | Blog | By Brian Dunphy, Geoffrey Friedman, Caitie Hill, Jane Haviland, Karen Lovitch
Leading up to a webinar on July 15, 2020, we are publishing a blog series covering the risks of enforcement against companies that received COVID-19 relief funds under the CARES Act and strategies for mitigating these risks. This second installment of our series discusses our predictions related to litigation and enforcement activities. We expect a substantial number of False Claims Act (“FCA”) investigations and lawsuits initiated mainly by whistleblowers (also known as “relators”). The FCA remains the government’s primary enforcement tool for pursuing alleged fraud by recipients of government funds, and FCA claims present substantial risk because the statute permits treble damages and significant per-claim penalties. For example, an erroneous $100,000 loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) can result in $300,000 in FCA damages, or more.
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The Supreme Judicial Court Declares that Inexpensive Market-Rate Housing May Not Be Counted in Determining a Town’s Compliance with Chapter 40B
January 11, 2013 | Alert | By Nicholas Cramb, Caitie Hill
On Tuesday, in Zoning Board of Appeals of Lunenburg v. Housing Appeals Committee, the Supreme Judicial Court soundly rejected a zoning board of appeals’ argument that inexpensive market-rate homes may be counted toward a town’s affordable housing obligations under Chapter 40B.
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News & Press
Mintz Announces New Member Growth
December 16, 2022
We're thrilled to announce the addition of 17 new Members to Mintz. Along with seven attorneys recently elevated to membership in the firm, we’ve welcomed ten lateral Members in 2022. They add depth to our experience and capabilities in life sciences, health care, financial services, private equity, sports & entertainment, technology, and other sectors.
35 Mintz attorneys have been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers and 25 Mintz attorneys have been named Massachusetts Rising Stars for 2022.
Contractor Distress, Construction Law, and Bankruptcy
January 14, 2022
Although the construction industry has largely been able to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic, there nevertheless have been many construction-related bankruptcy filings throughout the United States. In a Q&A article published by Thomson Reuters Practical Law, Mintz Member and Co-chair of the firm's Construction Law Practice Samuel M. Tony Starr and Associates Caitlin Hill and Timothy McKeon discussed how owners and developers can protect their businesses and projects from downstream distress.
Healthcare Enforcement & Litigation 2022
August 27, 2021
Mintz Member and Chair of the firm’s Health Law and Health Care Enforcement Defense Practices Karen Lovitch, Member Laurence Freedman, Of Counsel Samantha Kingsbury, and Associates Grady Campion and Caitlin Hill co-authored the Global Overview and corresponding United States chapter of the seventh edition of Lexology’s Healthcare Enforcement & Litigation 2022. Together these pieces outlined federal enforcement priorities in 2020, including matters involving opioids, COVID-19-related fraud, Medicare, and more, and look ahead to how health care enforcement is expected to evolve in the coming year.
Mintz Member and Co-chair of the firm’s Construction Law Practice Samuel M. Tony Starr and Associates Caitlin Hill and Timothy McKeon participated in a Thomson Reuters Expert Q&A discussing contractor distress and the intersection of construction law and bankruptcy.
Civil RICO Report: Court Finds No Pattern of Racketeering Activity
January 17, 2020
Mintz Member Peter Biagetti and Associate David Kete co-authored an article published in the January 2020 edition of Thomson Reuters’ Civil RICO Report detailing a notable ruling achieved by Mintz in a federal court in Boston that will have a significant impact on how future cases alleging a RICO “pattern” will be assessed.
Federal Judge Dismisses Claims Against Wynn Resorts Filed by Former Suffolk Downs Owner
November 18, 2019
The Boston Globe reported that on November 15, 2019, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts Patti B. Saris dismissed with prejudice federal RICO claims by plaintiff Sterling Suffolk Racecourse seeking over $3 billion in damages against Mintz clients Wynn MA, LLC, Wynn Resorts, LTD and its Chairman in a lawsuit arising out of the bid process for a much sought-after gaming license in the Greater Boston area. The Mintz team was led by Member Peter Biagetti, along with Member and Co-chair of the Construction Law Practice Tony Starr, and Associates Caitlin Hill and David Kete.
Recognition & Awards
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly: Up & Coming Lawyer Honoree (2022)
Best Lawyers in America "Ones to Watch": Product Liability Litigation - Defendants (2021-2023), Litigation - Construction (2023)
Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Rising Star - Business Litigation (2021-2022)
Involvement
- Member, Women's Leadership Program, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce (2019-2020)
Recent Insights
We're thrilled to announce the addition of 17 new Members to Mintz. Along with seven attorneys recently elevated to membership in the firm, we’ve welcomed ten lateral Members in 2022. They add depth to our experience and capabilities in life sciences, health care, financial services, private equity, sports & entertainment, technology, and other sectors.
Consumer Suits Against Gerber Baby Foods Dismissed
November 10, 2022| Blog|
