Matt Bergs

MATT BERGS focuses his practice on healthcare litigation and enforcement matters. Matt has extensive experience defending some of the world’s largest healthcare and life sciences companies against litigation and investigations premised on violations of the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute. He also has experience litigating antitrust, deceptive trade practice, and privacy cases. Matt has successfully briefed numerous dispositive and discovery-related motions and has managed all aspects of discovery, including experts, depositions, and complex affirmative/defensive document discovery.

Matt was a key member of the team that secured a complete defense verdict in U.S. ex rel. Siegel v. Novo Nordisk Inc., a long-running, high-stakes, high-profile False Claims Act suit in which the State of Washington and a relator alleged that Novo Nordisk Inc., one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, caused the submission of false claims for one of its hemophilia drugs via kickbacks and off-label promotion. The case marked only the third time in the last decade that a pharmaceutical company took a False Claims Act case to trial and the first defense verdict for a pharmaceutical company ever in such a trial.

Matt graduated Order of the Coif and with highest distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law, simultaneously earning his Masters in Health Administration from the University of Iowa College of Public Health. While in law school, Matt served as the senior online editor for the Iowa Law Review. Matt received his B.A. in history and political science, summa cum laude, from Marquette University.

Prior to joining the firm, Matt clerked for the Hon. Michael J. Melloy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Representative matters handled by Matt include the following:

• A pharmaceutical company in a False Claims Act case alleging off-label promotion and violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute related to the sale and marketing of its GLP-1 products.
• A health insurance company in a putative antitrust class action alleging out-of-network price fixing.
• A pharmaceutical company in a False Claims Act case premised on alleged fraud on the Patent & Trademark Office in securing a patent for a drug method of use.
• A management services organization in a False Claims Act investigation related to the medical necessity of certain procedures for which the client provided oversight and billing services.
• An e-commerce platform in a Controlled Substances Act investigation alleging violations of the Controlled Substance Act’s civil provisions.
• A dental insurance company in a putative antitrust class action alleging unlawful market division and price fixing.
• A clinical laboratory services company in a putative class action alleging unreasonable billing for clinical laboratory services.
• A pharmacy chain in a putative class action alleging various consumer data privacy violations.
• A kidney care provider in a False Claims Act investigation alleging violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute through a variety of arrangements including commercial transactions, management fees, and co-pay waivers.