Fraud Research and Litigation

Some groups and businesses have no desire for their members or employees to complete surveys on fraud in their industries and will sue to keep things quiet. All fraud researchers in the public and private sectors should prepare themselves for possible litigation. Here's how to do it. 

Completed surveys began arriving after a week. The response rate was better than anticipated but then the surveys abruptly stopped coming. At the same time, the researchers received a copy of a memo that had been sent to the members of their sample population by a trade group that represented these medical facilities. In the memo, the trade association warned its members not to participate in the study, citing among other things that:

The researchers quickly drafted a letter that clarified their aims and refuted the charges and sent it to the entire sample population along with a second survey. A second round of completed surveys began arriving, but the researchers' difficulties with the trade group continued.

Subsequently, a letter from the trade association arrived at the office of the legal counsel for the researchers' university that threatened legal action for defamation if the research continued. The university counsel's office responded with a rebuttal explaining the university's right to carry out research; the result was months of legal threats and counter-claims.