( November 8, 2023, 1:31 PM EST) -- PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge on Nov. 7 granted in part the U.S. government’s motion to strike affirmative defenses asserted by nursing home defendants’ in a suit asserting common law claims and violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) related to alleged “grossly substandard nursing home services to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” finding that the affirmative defenses of waiver and ratification and accord and satisfaction are not valid but that the mitigation of damages defense must be stricken only as to the FCA claims and not the common law claims....