D CEO's Will Maddox took a look at how the federal government went 0 for 2 in the first-of-their-kind criminal prosecutions for wage-fixing and no-poach cases in the healthcare industry.
North Texas lawyers Tom Melsheimer and Brian Poe both saw their clients acquitted. Melsheimer represented Kent Thiry, the former CEO of dialysis giant DaVita, who the government accused of conspiracy in restraint of trade to allocate employees, where the government alleged that competitors would agree not to hire each other’s employees. Poe represented John Rodgers, a physical therapist accused of taking part in wage-fixing with a competitor due to changes in reimbursement rates.
Will looks at the arguments by the government and the defense, and outlines how the latter won.
What does this mean for cases like this moving forward? " The government secured a victory in getting the cases to go to a criminal trial, encouraging future prosecutions," Will writes. "But the acquittals might make federal prosecutors pickier about which cases they choose and could embolden future defendants to go to trial rather than settle out of court."
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