California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a complaint against US HealthWorks Inc. (USHW), a nationwide chain of occupational and urgent care clinics. The complaint alleges USHW knowingly kept millions of dollars from the State of California in unclaimed overpayment balances, unclaimed refund checks, and other unclaimed property, in violation of the Unclaimed Property Law (UPL) and the California False Claims Act (CFCA). The complaint alleges that USHW possessed unclaimed property as early as 2001, but did not file mandated reports with the State of California until 2018 after being notified of the Attorney General’s investigation. Pursuant to the UPL, all intangible property that remains unclaimed by the true owner for more than three years after it became payable or distributable, must be reported and then remitted to the state. The UPL also mandates 12% interest per year on property that should have been reported or remitted to the state. Even when USHW filed reports with California, the company underreported the unclaimed property it held in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
As the Attorney General’s complaint alleges, USHW violated the CFCA when it chose not to report its unclaimed property holdings, thereby knowingly concealing millions of dollars due to the State of California. Although USHW’s unreported property claims were repeatedly brought to management’s attention, management declined to comply and report the property so as to avoid an audit by state authorities. USHW owned and operated 78 occupational and urgent care clinics within the State of California. In 2018, USHW was bought by Select Medical and these clinics still exist under the name Concentra. A copy of the complaint is available here.
