Brian McCormick, Jr. — Esq.

Brian McCormick, Jr.

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Brian J. McCormick, Jr., joined Ross Feller Casey in 2014 and represents whistleblowers in qui tam and fraud actions involving the waste or misuse of government resources, as well as child and adult victims of sexual assault and individuals catastrophically injuries by medical negligence and product defects.

McCormick’s qui tam cases involve a client’s knowledge of fraud against the government, which can take the form of Medicare or Medicaid abuse, grant fraud, pharmaceutical or medical device fraud, or information regarding the defrauding of the government by a company involved in other industries.

Since June 2020 alone, McCormick has helped the federal government settle six notable whistleblower cases:

McCormick, a partner at the firm, has assisted the U.S. government to successfully prosecute several landmark qui tam actions, including representing individuals in four of the largest whistleblower settlements in U.S. history:

  • U.S. ex rel. Rainero v. Pfizer, Inc.: Pfizer, Inc. agreed to plead guilty to criminal conduct and to pay $2.3 billion in fines, penalties, and damages to settle allegations that the pharmaceutical giant defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-funded healthcare programs through its market practices related to four of its drugs, including Geodon and Zyvox.
  • U.S. ex rel. Starr v. Johnson & Johnson: Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries paid more than $2.2 billion to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from allegations relating to the prescription drugs Risperdal and Invega, including promotion for uses not approved by the FDA, and payment of kickbacks to physicians and to the pharmacy providers. The global resolution was one of the largest healthcare fraud settlements in U.S. history.
  • U.S. ex rel. Rudolph v. Eli Lilly & Co.: Eli Lilly agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.415 billion for promoting its drug Zyprexa for uses not approved by the FDA. It included a criminal fine of $515 million, which at the time was the largest ever in a healthcare case, and the largest criminal fine for an individual corporation ever imposed in a United States criminal prosecution of any kind. Eli Lilly also paid $800 million in a civil settlement with the federal government and several states.
  • U.S. ex rel. Wetta v. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP: AstraZeneca agreed to pay $520 million in civil fines, penalties, and damages to settle allegations that the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-funded healthcare programs in connection with its marketing for the blockbuster atypical antipsychotic Seroquel.

McCormick also assisted the federal government and the state of California in recovering $6.6 million from a pharmaceutical company allegedly involved in a scheme to provide kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe its dermatological products. The case, which was settled in May 2019, involved Almirall, LLC, formerly known as Aqua Pharmaceuticals, of Pennsylvania, and was prompted by a former employee who brought the fraud allegations to light.

Some of McCormick’s other successful qui tam cases include:

McCormick helped the federal government achieve a settlement from Atlantic Spine & Joint Institute, a pain clinic with offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in which the medical practice’s owners agreed to pay $1.78 million to settle Medicare fraud allegations.

Working with federal lawyers, McCormick helped reach a $6.07 million settlement that resolved allegations that medical device companies EBI, LLC, of New Jersey, and Biomet, Inc., of Indiana, used kickbacks to induce physicians to purchase their bone growth stimulators. The case, which settled in 2014, was prompted by a former company employee who McCormick represented.

McCormick was instrumental in obtaining $750,000 to settle allegations of Medicare fraud against a Florida doctor and his pain management clinic. The suit alleged that Dr. Steven Chun and Sarasota Pain Associates submitted claims for procedures and services that were never performed.  McCormick represented two former nurses who worked for the doctor and reported his fraudulent activities.

McCormick served as co-counsel in two of the bellwether trials in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas involving young men who developed painful, enlarged breasts after taking an atypical antipsychotic drug manufactured by Johnson & Johnson.

Before becoming a top whistleblower litigator, McCormick was a partner in the Philadelphia office of a large, international law firm. There, he represented Fortune 500 companies in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters, including corporate investigations, shareholder and partnership disputes, securities litigation, healthcare matters, and Medicare fraud.

The Legal Intelligencer in 2015 named McCormick among the Top 10 Lateral Hires for 2014. The selection took into account the effect his departure had on his previous law firm, the positive impact for Ross Feller Casey, and “the buzz around the market when the move took place,” the nation’s oldest legal journal wrote.

McCormick was a featured expert on a December 2015 episode of the cable legal affairs program The American Law Journal that explored whether a criminal crackdown on corporate executives is afoot. Watch segment

McCormick has practiced before trial and appellate judges in both state and federal courts and has represented numerous clients in alternative dispute resolution forums such as the American Arbitration Association and JAMS. He has also represented clients in numerous mediations and recognizes the cost-effectiveness of certain ADR procedures. He has extensive experience with advanced trial technologies that are highly effective with today’s jurors.

McCormick, a former reporter himself, is a sought-after interview by journalists for stories involving whistleblower issues and defective drug and medical device litigation. He has lectured extensively on those topics across the country.

A Philadelphia native, McCormick was recently re-appointed by Philadelphia Mayor James F. Kenney to another term as one of five members of the city’s Board of Ethics, which investigates and reviews potential ethics and conflict of interest violations, as well as campaign finance violations. He has served on the Board since December 2012, when he was appointed by then-Mayor Michael Nutter and confirmed by Philadelphia City Council.

McCormick received his undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond and his J.D. with honors from Rutgers University School of Law.

McCormick is admitted to practice before numerous courts around the country, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the Western  District of Pennsylvania the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the United States Court of Federal Claims and all state and federal courts in New Jersey.  He has also handled cases on a pro hac vice basis in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and Utah.

Before attending law school, McCormick served as an analyst with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its Philadelphia office, where he was responsible for researching, collecting, and distilling information and disseminating it to agents nationwide.