The U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts has filed a motion in federal court to intervene in a whistleblower case accusing St. Jude Medical Inc. of engaging in a kickback scheme.

The original complaint against the Little Canada-based medical technology company was filed in 2006 by Charles Donigan, a Missouri resident who was hired as a technical service specialist at St. Jude in 2004. He left the company in 2007.

The lawsuit details kickbacks that St. Jude allegedly paid to doctors, hospitals and health care providers to induce them to use its products. Some of this was allegedly done with questionable clinical studies, as well as lavish perks paid to doctors, such as fishing trips, free meals, gourmet wine, airline tickets and tickets to baseball games, the suit said.

According to court documents, the government has been investigating the matter since October 2005, but said in late 2009 that it was not intervening.

Since then, the government completed its investigation and said in court papers it now feels it has "good cause" to get involved in the case.

A St. Jude spokeswoman could not be reached for comment late Friday. According to a Reuters report, a company representative said St. Jude objects to the government's motion and will "vigorously defend" itself against the lawsuit.

Whistleblower lawsuits, filed under the Civil False Claims Act, allow a private person to sue a company that knowingly submitted false bills to the government -- in this case, to Medicare.

If the government intervenes and is successful, whistleblowers can receive up to 30 percent of any settlement.

JANET MOORE