Crosbie v. Highmark Inc, No. 21-1641 (3d Cir. 2022)
Annotate this Case
Crosbie was hired by Gateway to help Highmark, a health insurance company, investigate fraud. While auditing Highmark’s network of doctors, Crosbie claims he discovered that some doctors had prior convictions for selling opioid prescriptions; others lacked required Medicaid licenses. He reported his concerns to Gateway's managers. They investigated but did not take any action. Crosbie kept pressing the issue. More than a year after his report. Crosbie’s coworker lodged a complaint that Crosbie had called her “Miss Piggy” and “oinked” at her. Gateway’s human-resources team investigated. An eyewitness corroborated the complainant’s story. Other people described past issues between Crosbie and the complainant.
Gateway fired Crosbie. Crosbie sued Gateway and Highmark under the False Claims Act for retaliation based on his fraud reports. The employers replied that the people who had decided to fire Crosbie knew nothing about his reports and that they had good reason to fire him. The Third Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the employers. Crosbie has not shown that the employers’ reason was a mere pretext for retaliation.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.