Date
November 1, 2002
Contact
Elliot M. Katz, DVM
(415) 388-9641, ext. 25
Jeremy Friedman, Esq.
(510) 530-9060
In Defense of Animals
131 Camino Alto
Mill Valley
CA 94941
IDA is an international, California-based animal advocacy organization dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by defending their rights, welfare and habitats.
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Suit Alleging Fraud on Grant Application Will Proceed
Phoenix, AZ… A ruling in the Federal District Court of Arizona has determined that a lawsuit filed against Michael Berens, Ph.D., a researcher at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, will proceed. Judge Frederick Martone on Friday, October 26, 2002, denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss.
Oakland, California attorney, Jeremy Friedman, successfully argued against the motion to dismiss on behalf of the qui tam plaintiffs in the case, Patricia Haight, Ph.D., and In Defense of Animals, a national animal advocacy organization. Phoenix attorney, Karen Lugosi, also appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs.
The whistleblower suit is based on the Federal False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the federal government when they can establish that federal funds were secured based upon misrepresentations and fraud.
Among other things, the False Claims Act suit filed against Berens and the other defendants alleges that Berens misled the federal government regarding the success of the project for implanting beagle puppies with brain tumor cells, in order to secure grant money from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
If found liable, Michael Berens could be required to pay the entire amount of his funding for the Allogenic Glioma in Immune Competent Dogs project back to the Federal Government, plus treble damages and statutory penalties. The project, in which more than 340 beagle puppies and dogs died, exceeded half a million dollars in funding.
Arizona State University (ASU) terminated any relationship with the research in 1999 because of the project’s failure rate over nine years, because of ongoing concerns regarding the surgical procedures, and because of animal welfare issues including the fact that 75% of puppies did not survive after surgical implant. Congressman John Shadegg asked NIH for a moratorium on funding of the project and a full review of it. Twenty-three Congressional offices across the country made inquiries to the National Institutes of Health about the research. The project ended in April 2002 when the researchers were unable to complete the work as projected a year earlier. Berens had discontinued his efforts to implant fetal puppies several months before.
Dr. Elliot Katz, President of In Defense of Animals, summarized his feelings about the Friday ruling in the following statement "I am very pleased that the judge has made the decision to let the evidence in this case come to light and to be heard."