An ophthalmologist who agreed to settle fraud charges against him but didn't pay will stand trial to determine the extent of what he must pay in restitution, a Washington, D.C., circuit court said Feb. 16.
Douglas Greer, MD, defrauded the government of more than $1 million in 1999, and agreed to settle the charges against him in 2007. He agreed to serve 18 months in prison with 24 months of court supervision and pay back taxes, $50,000 in fines and $1.2 million in restitution.
The government then claimed Dr. Greer violated the False Claims Act. He reached an agreement with the government to liquidate his retirement accounts and sell a rental home he owned in Washington, D.C., to pay the government up to $1 million.
He liquidated an insurance policy and then paid the government $189,000 toward the civil settlement. He went to prison in November 2007, was released in March 2009 and completed court supervision in March 2011.
Dr. Greer didn't make any additional payments, and the case was dormant until December 2015, when the government sent a letter demanding payments on his settlement balance. Dr. Greer refused.
The government then brought a breach-of-contract case against him. Dr. Greer's lawyer argued the case was brought after the statute of limitations had passed. The government argued that the settlement had different timelines, which would have moved the timeline for the statute of limitations, and a district judge agreed with the government, granting summary judgment. Dr. Greer appealed.
The appeals court agreed with Dr. Greer's argument that a summary judgment was unjust. The court reversed the summary judgment but ordered Dr. Greer to stand trial for the case and let a jury decide what is owed.
Read the summary judgment here.