Chattman, Gerald B.

Peter W Chatfield has handled a wide variety of qui tam cases. His practice has included pursuing fraud cases on behalf of whistleblowers against healthcare providers, defense contractors and other government contractors.

He played a leading role in two whistleblower cases against HCA, the nation's largest healthcare provider. As a result of those qui tam lawsuits, the federal government launched its largest investigation ever into Medicare fraud. HCA eventually paid a total of $881 million to settle the two whistleblower cases, other qui tam lawsuits and related charges. He was a lead attorney in a separate qui tam case against another large healthcare provider that settled for $85.7 million.

In a recent high-profile case, Mr. Chatfield was the lead attorney for a whistleblower who worked under cover with the Food and Drug Administration to stop Cephalon Inc.'s illegal off-label marketing of certain drugs that was putting patients at risk. Cephalon paid a total of $425 million to settle four qui tam lawsuits - including one brought by Phillips & Cohen - and a criminal charge involving its off-label marketing practices. It was the first case to calculate civil damages based primarily on the extent to which the defendant marketed its drugs for off-label indications for which there were no credible published scientific research supporting the drugs' safety or effectiveness.

Mr. Chatfield played a key role in a groundbreaking court battle that boosted a client's whistleblower award to 24 percent of the settlement. It was the largest share of a qui tam settlement that a court has awarded to a whistleblower in a False Claims Act case the government has joined. He was also lead counsel for the whistleblower in a Florida radiology kickback and upcoding case that in 2008 resulted in the largest False Claims Act recovery to date against an individually owned medical practice.

Mr. Chatfield has been a leader among the qui tam bar in supporting whistleblowers and their attorneys in precedent-setting court cases, as well as in evaluating potential case theories and advising qui tam attorneys on False Claims Act procedures and strategies. He has provided pro bono help to other attorneys with the writing and editing of amicus briefs supporting qui tam "relators" in appellate cases and has acted as a judge and advisor in moot court proceedings held to prepare government and whistleblower attorneys for arguments in False Claims Act matters before the United States Supreme Court and United States Circuit Courts of Appeals.

In addition, Mr. Chatfield has served as a representative of the whistleblowers' legal bar in negotiations with the Department of Justice on policies and standard agreements that affect qui tam cases and has played an advisory role in the development and drafting of proposed amendments to the False Claims Act to correct misinterpretations and improper application of the current statute that have reduced its effectiveness. He is a regular speaker at conferences on whistleblowers, fraud against the government and qui tam lawsuits.

Mr. Chatfield graduated in 1986 from Yale Law School, where he was a Coker fellow and senior editor of the Yale Law Journal. He then served as a law clerk to the Honorable Alvin B. Rubin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

From 1987 to 1994, Mr. Chatfield was associated with Williams & Connolly in Washington, D.C. His practice there centered on complex civil and commercial matters, including business torts and fraud, medical malpractice defense, civil RICO, products liability, and labor and employment matters.

Mr. Chatfield is bar qualified in Maryland and Washington, DC.