Willing to Take Risks for Our Clients: Over 100+ years combined experience & history of landmark cases.
Committed to representing the rights of whistleblowers who expose fraud against government programs in Florida and across the nation. The attorneys of Guttman, Freidin & Celler, are proven legal professionals, representing a combined 100+ years of legal experience. We have a long tradition of successful jury trial experience and have recovered millions for our past clients. We have the extensive resources and expertise to investigate complex whistleblower cases and take your fight as far as it needs to go. Representing individuals who blow the whistle on fraud on contingency, you pay nothing until we win.
Our attorneys have earned a reputation for skillful advocacy on behalf of our whistleblower clients and a willingness to go all the way. The skilled team and staff are consistently recognized and have litigated a history of landmark and record-setting cases in their field.
As a whistleblower who exposes fraud and corruption represented by GF&C can expect the personal attention of a small firm, and can rest assured we are doing everything possible to achieve big firm results. We will discuss your false claims act case, answer your questions confidentially, and help you navigate the fraud whistleblowing process safely.
Reuben Guttman is a founding member of Guttman, Buschner & Brooks (GBB) PLLC. His practice involves complex litigation and class actions. He has tried and/or litigated claims involving fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, environmental derelictions, antitrust, business interference and other common law torts or statutory violations.
The International Business Times has called Mr. Guttman “one of the world’s most prominent whistleblower attorneys,” and he has been recognized as a Washingtonian Top Lawyer by Washingtonian Magazine. Citing “wins recouping billions of dollars for the federal and state governments,” a February 19, 2015 profile of Mr Guttman by the Boston Globe’s STAT NEWS referred to him as the “Lawyer Pharma Loves to Hate.” Citing a $98 million recovery from Community Health Systems, Inc., Law 360 named Mr. Guttman a “Health Care MVP” and profiled him in a December 1, 2014 article. Author, David Dayen, writing in his Book, Chain of Title (The New Press, 2016) cited Mr. Guttman’s work on behalf of “robo-signing” whistleblower, Lynn Szymoniak, noting “he had won some of the largest awards in the history of the False Claims Act; there was really nobody better for the case.” Writing in their book, The Corporate Whistleblower’s Survival Guide, (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2011), authors Tom Devine and Tarek F. Massarani wrote that “in settling qui tam litigation, [Mr. Guttman] has aggressively and successfully negotiated for corrective action against public health and safety consequences from prescription drug fraud.” In the book, When Good Companies Go Bad, (ABC CLIO, 2014), authors Donald Beachler and Thomas Shevory profiled Mr. Guttman’s off label marketing case against Abbott labs, involving the drug Depakote, which resulted in a $1.6 billion recovery in 2012 for state and federal governments. The Spring, 2013 Cover Story for the Emory Lawyer, profiled Mr. Guttman as one of Emory Law School’s “leading players” in the area of complex litigation noting that “even before filing a case, Guttman’s team engages in intensive investigation, retains experts and prepares as if a trial is imminent.”
Mr. Guttman represented one of the six main whistleblowers in litigation resulting in the government’s September 2009, $2.3 billion settlement with Pfizer Pharmaceutical. In addition to the Abbott Lab’s $1.6 billion settlement in 2012, Mr. Guttman represented one of the main whistleblowers in a case against GlaxoSmithKline that returned over $3 billion to the government. That same year Mr. Guttman represented whistleblower, Lynn Szymoniak, whose qui tam case, involving fraudulent mortgage assignments, was resolved as part of the government’s $25 billion settlement with some of the world’s largest banks. The following year, in 2013, Mr. Guttman was lead counsel for the lead False Claims Act whistleblowers in a case involving the kidney-transplant drug, Rapamune. That case culminated on July 30, 2013 in a U.S. Department of Justice announcement that Pfizer had agreed to pay $491 million to settle criminal and civil charges stemming from the illegal marketing of Rapamune by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2009. In 2013, Mr. Guttman was also lead counsel in a case against Amgen, Inc. et al., resulting in the recovery of $24.9 million. In 2014, Mr. Guttman recovered $4.19 million from co-defendant, Omnicare, and in 2015 he recovered another $2.15 million from co-defendant Pharmerica. On October 17, 2016, Mr. Guttman and his firm, GBB, announced the recovery of another $28 million from Omnicare. That same month, GBB announced the recovery of $5.3 million in a case involving fraudulent Medicare claims submitted by a New York State provider.
Mr. Guttman was counsel in U.S. ex rel. Johnson v.Shell Oil Co., 33 F. Supp. 2d 528 (E.D. Tex. 1999), where over $300 million was recovered from the oil industry. On behalf of a European whistleblower, Mr. Guttman was counsel in litigation that resulted in a $13 million settlement.
Mr. Guttman served as lead counsel in a series of cases resulting in the recovery of more than $30 million under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Cases brought by Mr. Guttman on behalf of nuclear weapons workers at “Manhattan Project” nuclear weapons sites resulted in congressional oversight and changes in procurement practices, and dread disease compensation legislation, covering the nation’s nuclear weapons complex workforce. A case brought by Mr. Guttman against the Secretary of Energy under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) resulted in the cancelling of a project to recycle radioactive Nickel at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Mr. Guttman served as lead counsel in litigation brought on behalf of prison workers in the District of Columbia, resulting in injunctive relief protecting workers against exposure to blood-borne pathogens and he served as lead counsel in a mediation before the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, resulting in work place standards and back pay for minority employees at a large Texas oil refinery.
Mr. Guttman is the author and/or editor of numerous articles, book chapters, and technical publications.
His commentary and/or articles have appeared in Market Watch, American Lawyer Media, AOL Government, Accounting Today, the Jerusalem Post, the International Business Times, the Atlanta Journal/Constitution, The Hill, Forbes, Law 360, Blog of The American Constitution Society, and the Fulton County Reporter. Mr. Guttman has written almost 100 commentaries on politics and the law for The Global Legal Post – www.globallegalpost.com. He was a founder and contributing editor and a writer for The Regulatory Analyst; Medical Waste (Warren, Gorham & Lamont, Publishers)
His article, Pharmaceutical Regulation in the United States: A Confluence of Influences, was published in Chinese by the Peking University Public Interest Law Journal, Vol. 1, Page 187 (2010). He is co-author (with Professor Paul Zwier) of A Failure of Remedies: The Case Against Big Pharma, (Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review, 2016). He is also co-author (with Jennifer Williams) of Controlling Government Contractors; Can the False Claims Act be More Effective (Sedona Conference Journal Vol. 14, Fall, 2013). And he is a co-author (with Professor Paul Zwier) of The New World of Electoral Politics and What It Means; An Introductory Essay, (Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review, 2017).
Mr. Guttman is co-author of SEC v. HG Pharmaceutical and Gonzalez v. Hewitt which are “case files” published by the Emory University School of Law Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and used to train law students and practicing attorneys. He is also co-author of the case file, United States ex Rel Rodriguez v Hughes, et. al (Defendants Materials, Relators Materials, Faculty Materials), (National Institute of Trial Advocacy, 2016). Mr. Guttman is author or co-author of Chapters 5-10 in Internal Investigations: How to Protect Your Clients or Companies in the Global, Post Dodd-Frank World (Practicing Law Institute, 2012). He is co-author (With Professor Kathryn Wagner) of The Asbestos Model; Labor and Citizens Groups and a Multipronged Approach to Regulatory Change (published as Chapter 5 in Conflict Resolution and Public Policy, (Edited by Miriam K. Mills, Greenwood Press, 1990). He served as an advisory board member and Chapter author for Environmental Management in Healthcare Facilities (W.B. Saunders, 1998). He is co-author with Professor J.C. Lore of Pretrial Advocacy, (Lexis-Nexis and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy) (Work in progress to be published, Fall 2017).
He has appeared on ABC Nightly News, CNN, Bloomberg News, and has been quoted in major publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New York Post, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News and national wire services including the Associated Press, Reuters and Bloomberg.
In addition to his writings, Mr. Guttman has testified before committees of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate on the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA). In 1992, he advised President-elect Clinton’s transition team on labor policy and worker health and safety regulation.
He is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the Emory University School of Law Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution and has been a Team Leader for Emory Law School’s Kessler-Eidson Trial Techniques Program. He is currently serving his second three-year term on the Emory Law School Dean’s Advisory Board. He is a founder of and Senior Advisor to the Emory Corporate Governance and Accountability Review (ECGAR), and a faculty member of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. Mr. Guttman has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the Rutgers University School of Law.
As part of a U.S. State Department program in conjunction with the Emory law Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, he has been one of five visiting professors at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City, training Mexican Judges and practitioners on oral advocacy and trial practice. He has been a guest lecturer at a number of universities including John Hopkins, the University of Pennsylvania, Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, Peking University in Beijing and Renmin University in Beijing. In 2006, the Dutch Embassy in China invited him to share his perspectives with experts in China about changes to the nation’s labor laws.
Mr. Guttman earned his law degree at Emory University School of Law, (1985), and his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Rochester, (1981). He began his legal career as Washington, DC counsel for the Service Employees International Union, (SEIU), AFL-CIO where he served from 1985 until 1990. He is admitted to practice in the State of Georgia; the District of Columbia; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; the State of New Jersey; the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia, the District of New Jersey, the District of Nebraska, the Northern District of Georgia, the District of Maryland, the Western District of Michigan, and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and the United States Courts of Appeal for the Third Circuit, the Eleventh Circuit, the Fourth Circuit and the D.C. Circuit.
Attorney Philip Freidin
Firm Founder Philip Freidin has been practicing law for 50 years and has devoted his life to representing clients who have been seriously injured by the wrongful acts of others. Phil has represented plaintiffs in some of the most significant personal injury and medical malpractice cases in Florida’s history and has earned his status as a pillar in the South Florida legal community. As one federal judge recently wrote, “he is unquestionably among the upper echelons of lawyers in our district.”
Phil has been Board Certified in Civil Trial Law since 1989 and recertified twice. Board certification recognizes lawyers’ special knowledge, skills, and proficiency in various areas of law, along with professionalism and ethics in practice, and is only awarded to the most experienced and capable lawyers in their practice area. Over the course of his career, Phil has conducted more than 200 jury trials and around 100 non-jury trials, all involving personal injury and medical negligence issues.
Since 1984, Phil has also been an active leader in the Florida Justice Association, the largest organization for plaintiffs’ lawyers in Florida. After joining, he was elected Secretary, Treasurer, and then President of the statewide organization, which had 3,500 members at the time.
Phil’s stature in the legal community has been recognized by Florida Governors, U.S. Senators, and Florida Supreme Court Justices. He has been appointed to serve on multiple Judicial Nominating Commissions—both at the state and federal levels—over the years, and over 60 judges have been appointed as a result of his 17 years of membership and participation in JNCs.
Attorney Richard Celler
Richard Celler is the Managing Partner of Richard Celler Legal, P.A., a/k/a the Florida Overtime Lawyer. He created this firm after having served as the Founding Member and Managing Partner of one of the largest employee/plaintiff side employment law divisions in the United States.
In this capacity, Mr. Celler managed a team of over 40 employees and 11 lawyers handling single plaintiff and class action employment and discrimination cases throughout Florida and the United States.During his development of this Division, Mr. Celler trained each of the lawyers in the division on the law applicable to employment situations, how to litigate these cases successfully, and how to build a successful employment law practice by keeping the main priority in mind – – the client.
During Mr. Celler’s tenure as the Division Head, he successfully guided his team to substantial settlements and verdicts in thousands of cases including resolutions between $1,000,000 to in excess of $9,500,000.00, on single cases.
Mr. Celler was also the lead trial lawyer for the Division, and secured total client verdicts in excess of $330,000.00 and $1,100,000.00 in employment law trials regarding HIV Discrimination and Family Medical Leave Act Discrimination.
Mr. Celler has served as the first chair (or lead trial counsel) in excess of 40 employment law trials, and has managed thousands single plaintiff and class action overtime and employment cases, throughout Florida and nationwide. In November 2013, Mr. Celler left big firm life with the idea of reopening his own litigation firm with an emphasis on something most big firms cannot provide – – a lower volume of cases, and more focus on the needs and attention of every single client.
Mr. Celler’s practice focuses on all areas of the employment context from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation under the Florida Civil Rights Act, Title VII, the Family Medical Leave Act, and other employment related statutes. Additionally, Mr. Celler represents individuals in whistleblower and wage and hour litigation (overtime, minimum wage, commissions, final paychecks).
Many firms charge clients for an initial consultation to discuss their claims. Mr. Celler does not. You can call him or email him to discuss your case for free. If he elects to represent you, your case will be handled on a contingency basis, which means that he only gets paid, if you get paid. We encourage you to look at the remainder of our website for information on your rights and benefits in the workplace
The legal team of Guttman, Freidin & Celler is complimented by small force of lawyers, paralegals and support staff. Building and litigating complex cases and winning remarkable resolutions incredible amounts of preparation most clients don’t see. We are immensely proud of our amazing team of lawyers and staff whose support, integrity, commitment and compassion is a critical component of our formula for success.
The GF&C team represents clients with the attention of a small firm, while being able to deliver big firm results. We are proud to have a deeply-experienced staff who understand our interests are aligned with the clients. We work for you, the whistleblower and are focused on continuing the hard-won tradition of success and record-setting results. Our clients are family, and you can expect to be treated similarly.
Notable Case Areas
Pharmaceutical & drug whistleblower suits alleging fraudulent marketing for uses not approved by the FDA, misrepresentation and other misconduct and abuses.
Pharmaceutical Fraud
Whistleblower representation for medicare reimbursement fraud allegations and reimbursement scams against government insurance plans. Systemic out-patient admittance, billing fraud, and other misrepresentation hospital networks and care providers use to cheat.
Healthcare Fraud
Representation for those who blow the whistle on alleged misconduct, kickbacks, enrollment scams and other fraud schemes conducted by Universities and charter schools. Including research fraud and grant program scams.
Education Fraud
Hospice fraud representation for clients who bring to light kickback schemes, patient enrollment scams, unnecessary services, and other forms of billing fraud and misconduct.
The GF&C legal team prides itself on tackling complex cases and seeing them through to the end. Our commitment to these difficult cases has led to many notable verdicts and settlements — many of them record-setting — in a variety of practice areas. Our firm has the experience, skill and resources necessary to see your case to resolution — regardless of the opposing parties involved.
Testimonials
“One of the world’s most prominent whistleblower attorneys,” according to the International Business Times. Referred to as “The Lawyer Pharma Loves to Hate,” by the Boston Globe.
