⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Fourth Circuit hears a whistleblower suit over therapy billing at Anchorage, a Maryland nursing facility. Two therapy workers accuse the facility and its current and former owners of using falsified records to bill Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary treatment. They sued under the False Claims Act, which lets private plaintiffs pursue fraud claims for the government. Their lawsuit went from Maryland to Pennsylvania and back. The Pennsylvania judge let it proceed, but the Maryland judge later dismissed it because an earlier whistleblower suit alleged a similar therapy-billing scheme. The first-to-file rule bars a later, related private suit while the earlier one is pending. This appeal asks whether the two suits are sufficiently related and whether the Pennsylvania ruling should govern. The lawyers also dispute whether this rule is jurisdictional—whether it limits the court's power to hear the case. Evan Bianchi will argue for the whistleblowers, seeking to restore their lawsuit.

United States ex rel. William Coleman v. Anchorage SNF, LLC (No. 25-2283) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, argued September 16, 2026.