Protecting Whistleblowers and Victims of Retaliation
An experienced “qui tam” attorney, Ms. Willenson has zealously represented whistleblowers who have exposed fraud in the health care system, in cases filed under the federal False Claims Act. She was counsel in the case United States ex rel. Chandler v. Hektoen (N.D. Illinois), which established, through a 9-0 decision by the United States Supreme Court, that local governments can be sued under the False Claims Act. She was also worked as counsel for several states in the “Average Wholesale Price” drug fraud litigation.

Further, in nearly every one of her class action cases, the defendants have violated the law during the litigation by threatening vulnerable plaintiffs with retaliation if they continued to assert their civil rights or employment rights claims. Ms. Willenson has a reputation for aggressively and successfully responding to actual and threatened retaliatory conduct, securing protective orders and judicial sanctions. As lead counsel in Rosiles-Perez v. Superior Forestry, Inc. (M.D. Tennessee), she secured several significant sanctions order, including a groundbreaking order which prohibited the defendants from introducing any evidence on the issue of damages. The case settled shortly thereafter.