Damage Control Cornell Style

State Court Dismisses Fraud Accusations

Cornell Daily Sun
February 24, 2010 - 1:38am
By Yi-Ke Peng

A lawsuit that claimed Cornell University and New York State committed fraud against the U.S. Government was dismissed on February 16, ending a series of complaints filed in 2004 by Bruce Chapman, president of Handle With Care Behavior Management System, Inc.

Handle With Care is a company that provides training programs for various organizations across the country to teach individuals safe techniques for physically restraining others in crisis situations. Since 1998, HWC has faced competition from a new restraint method developed jointly by the University and New York State called the Therapeutic Crisis Intervention method, according to the United States Court of Appeals Decision on Oct. 14, 2008.

In 2004, Chapman sued Cornell and New York State under the federal False Claims Act, claiming that “Cornell and the State conspired to overcharge for services provided by Cornell to the State and funded in part by federal funds [i.e. TCI training],” Nelson Roth, Deputy University Counsel, stated in an e-mail.

The False Claims Act permits people not affiliated with the U.S. Government to file a lawsuit claiming fraud against the Government. The plaintiff stands to receive a portion of the recovery if the action is successful.

“Chapman’s claims were without merit and Cornell is pleased with the outcome of each case. The courts that reviewed and dismissed these cases reached the right result in each case,” Roth stated in an e-mail...more

As I am quite sure my comment will not be posted, I have created a technique to ensure my comments are always made public.  Here it is:

This is a very well written damage control piece, unfortunately, there are very important issues that were omitted from this posting.

This type of revenue-maximization-scheme is very new to the Department of Justice as it begins to realize the pervasiveness of the fraud in child welfare.

Child Welfare fraud is an emerging field of law as this has been found to be the only recourse to address the lack of accountability and transparency.

Chapman's claims have been verified and documented by multiple agencies within the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services.

This is not the first case under the False Claims Act against New York and Cornell, nor will it be the last.