District Court Decision on Loper-Bright and the Stark Law Looming

In a September 12, 2024 decision, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia requested supplemental briefing on the effect of the Supreme Court’s overruling of Chevron deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo on regulations under the physician self-referral statute or Stark Law.  A motion to dismiss Stark Law-based FCA claims had been fully briefed by the parties relying on arguments derived from the Stark regulations, but the district court requested supplemental briefing on Loper Bright because the Stark regulations are complex and perhaps, in the judge’s view, beyond the scope of what Congress intended. Supplemental briefing was completed in October, so a decision should be expected in the relatively near future.