A nurse brought an action against a medical center for terminating her in violation of the anti-retaliation provision of the False Claims Act. The medical center sought to dismiss the suit for failure to state a claim for which relief could be granted. The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held that three criteria must be satisfied to establish a retaliation claim. First, the nurse's actions must be protected by the statute. Second, the medical center must have known that the nurse was engaged in protected conduct. Third, the motivation behind the medical center's termination of the nurse at least in part was to stop her protected conduct. The nurse was able to demonstrate that her investigation into nurse staffing levels was related to the medical center's non-compliance with regulations. Since the medical center had accepted Medicaid/Medicare funding, evidence of such non-compliance would constitute fraud. The nurse was able to demonstrate that the medical center was aware of her investigation and that she had alerted the government of alleged fraudulent activity. However, she could not demonstrate that she had provided the medical center with sufficient legal notice that she was investigating fraud and, thus, could not use the retaliation claim afforded her by the False Claims Act.