Richard M. Goldstein

Research and Scientific Misconduct

• Obtained first-ever ruling in which an ORI debarment order was vacated and a scientist was entitled to a de novo hearing before a federal administrative law judge. Led to favorable settlement in which no debarment was imposed, and the scientist was able to continue receiving federal grant funding.
• Represented a naturalized U.S. citizen against allegations of failing to disclose funding from the Chinese Government.
• Represented a scientist whose inventions were part of a confidential U.S. grant application and were later found to be part of a patent approved by a foreign government.
• Persuaded numerous confidential university and institutional faculty panels to dismiss claims of academic or research misconduct.
• Represented a senior scientist in an NIH funded lab where the PIs and another senior researcher were found to have committed misconduct, and the institution paid a sizable amount to the U.S. Government to settle allegations of false claims. The allegations against the client were dismissed at the inquiry stage, and the identity of the client and the allegations never became public.
• Represented a junior researcher who was accused, along with the PI, of misstating data in a clinical trial. The misconduct allegations were rejected by the investigation panel, and the identity of the client and the allegations never became public.
• Representation of a PI/lab head where tissue images were found to be erroneous. The misconduct allegations were rejected by the investigation panel, and the identity of the client and the allegations never became public.
• After misconduct findings by an institution, persuaded government agencies not to pursue formal debarments or suspensions. In other cases, negotiated significant reductions in penalties imposed by federal regulatory authorities against scientists found to have committed misconduct.
• Responded on behalf of a scientist whose published data had been questioned by a journal reviewer. After a lengthy process, the journal rejected the allegations of data fabrication and no misconduct proceeding was commenced. The matter has never become public.
• Represented a junior scientist who had been improperly denied an authorship credit on a research project where the scientist had made a substantial intellectual contribution.

Healthcare

• Obtained dismissal of all claims against a Boston area hospital after it had been sued by a physician network for allegedly interfering in network's contract with an independent physician organization.
• Persuaded the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine to license a physician after the Board's staff rejected the application.
• Persuaded the Board of Registration's Complaint Committee to dismiss charges of physician misconduct.
• Successfully defended a major North Shore community hospital in commercial litigation by a physician practice, resulting in a dismissal of the lawsuit prior to discovery on terms very favorable to the hospital.
• Obtained a substantial settlement for a major Boston hospital from primary care providers who moved to a competing facility.
• Obtained substantial settlements for several non-profit healthcare clients involving claims of securities fraud against investment advisors and managers.
• Obtained substantial settlement for physician who had been illegally terminated by a large Boston area practice group.
• Prosecuted numerous physician discipline cases before internal hospital peer review and disciplinary panels. In each case, they resulted in upholding the medical staff's discipline or the removal of a physician from a hospital's medical staff.
• Obtained summary judgment for a hospital and its medical staff president, dismissing a lawsuit brought by a primary care physician after the doctor was terminated for disruptive behavior.
• Successfully represented hospitals, physician groups, hospices and other healthcare providers in government fraud and False Claims Act cases.
• Persuaded government prosecutors on several occasions not to bring civil and/or criminal charges against client physicians and providers.
• Persuaded a local U.S. Attorney's office to decline intervening in a qui tam federal False Claims Act case involving ‘upcoding' by a healthcare provider.
• Settled a claim by the Department of Justice against a physician under the Controlled Substances Act involving alleged improper prescribing of opiates and other controlled substances such that the physician's DEA license was not revoked or suspended.
• Oversaw and/or conducted numerous internal investigations for healthcare providers.
• Represented owners and providers in numerous employment disputes with present or former employees.
• Represented numerous hospital employees who were subpoenaed to testify in government investigations.

Construction Industry

• Obtained multimillion-dollar settlement for private contractor after public owner refused to pay for a change order caused by owner's defective specification and unforeseen site conditions.
• Persuaded the Attorney General to drop a prevailing wage investigation against a contractor.
• Obtained a multimillion-dollar judgment against a customer that refused to pay past due water and sewer charges.
• Obtained a judgment upholding a local water and sewer agency's authority to determine water and sewer rates.
• Resolved hundreds of contractor claims on the multi-billion dollar Boston Harbor Project at a fraction of the claimed amounts.
• Successfully defended Massachusetts public agencies in dozens of public contracting bid protests.
• Recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars from contractor that submitted a fraudulent bid.
• Recovered millions of dollars for Massachusetts public agencies in cost recovery efforts against engineering and design firms on major Massachusetts public works projects.
• Obtained dismissal of employment discrimination claims against a real estate development company after employee was terminated for cause.
• Defended contractors in numerous suits by subcontractors or by disgruntled employees.

Government Ethics/Lobbying/Investigations

• On numerous occasions, persuaded state regulators not to bring enforcement action against campaign officials and political committees.
• Obtained rulings from campaign finance regulators that certain campaigns and contributors are not required to disclose certain campaign expenditures or may avoid any public disclosure whatsoever.