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Category: Procedure

Procedure / Seal

7 Dec, 2016

Supreme Court Concludes that Violation of FCA Seal Provision Does Not Necessarily Mandate Dismissal of Qui Tam Suits

The Supreme Court held yesterday that a violation of the False Claims Act’s seal provision does not mandate dismissal of a relator’s complaint.  Justice Kennedy authored the Court’s opinion in the unanimous 8-0 decision.  State Farm was accused of defrauding the government by falsely classifying wind damage caused by Hurricane Katrina as flood damage, which would allow State Farm’s costs to be covered by the...

Procedure / Standing

7 Jun, 2016

Second Circuit Finds FCA Claims about Night-Vision Goggles Lack Sufficient Particularity

On Wednesday, May 25, 2016, the Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss FCA claims alleging that defendants supplied $1.5 billion worth of deficient night-vision goggles to the U.S. military.  United States ex rel. Ladas v. Exelis Inc. et al., No. 14-4155 (2d Cir. May 25, 2016).  The court found that the relator, Michael Ladas, failed to plead the fraud claims with sufficient...

First-To-File Rule / Procedure / Relators

31 Dec, 2015

First Circuit Permits Supplementation of Complaint to Cure First-to-File Jurisdictional Defects

The FCA first-to-file bar provides that if an action involving the same subject matter is already pending, “no person other than the Government may intervene or bring a related action based on the facts underlying the pending action.”  31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5).  Courts are thus deprived of jurisdiction to entertain opportunistic qui tam lawsuits based on facts similar to an already-filed lawsuit.  In May 2015, the...

Procedure / Relators

1 Dec, 2015

New York Trial Court Dismisses FCA Tax Case against Vanguard; Determines Relator Violated Confidentiality Provisions of State Attorney Ethics Rules

On November 13, 2015, the New York State Supreme Court dismissed a qui tam action brought under New York State Finance Law §§ 187-194 (“False Claims Act”) against The Vanguard Group Inc., The Vanguard Group of Mutual Funds, and Vanguard Marketing Corporation (collectively, “Vanguard”) by a former Vanguard in-house tax attorney because the Court found that plaintiff had improperly relied on confidential information obtained through...

Intervention / Procedure / Settlements

29 Oct, 2015

Eighth Circuit Vacates Relators’ FCA Settlement Recovery; Concludes that the FCA “Allows Relators to Recover a Percentage of the Proceeds of the Settlement of ‘the Claim’ Brought by the Relators, and Only That Claim”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently vacated an award of settlement proceeds to relators of several related qui tam actions because the district court failed to make factual findings as to whether the government’s settlement with one of the defendants was based on claims that factually overlapped with the claims brought by the relators. Rille v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, et al., No....

False Statement / Procedure

9 Oct, 2015

Supreme Court Asked To Clarify Application of Rule 9(b) in FCA Cases

On September 21, 2015, counsel for AT&T, Inc., and other telecommunications providers asked the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a circuit split over what relators asserting FCA claims must do to meet Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b)’s requirement of particularity. Pet. for a Writ of Cert., AT&T, Inc. v. United States of America ex rel. Heath, No. 15-363 (Sept. 21, 2015). Under the Universal...

Express Certification / False Statement / Procedure

30 Sep, 2015

Utah Court Dismisses False-Certification Case Alleging Submission of False Certificates of Conformance

On September 22, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah dismissed a qui tam complaint brought against Triumph Gear Systems, Inc. (“TGS”) and its parent company Triumph Group, Inc. (“Triumph”).   In an opinion issued by District Judge Dale A. Kimball, the Court found that the complaint failed at the “most basic level” to identify a single false claim submitted to the government....

Procedure / Public Disclosure

4 Sep, 2015

Third Circuit Upholds Application of pre-ACA Public Disclosure Bar to FCA Claims Filed after the ACA’s Effective Date

On August 26, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a district court’s decision to apply the version of the FCA’s public disclosure bar in existence before the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) to qui tam claims filed after the ACA’s effective date. United States ex rel. Judd v. Quest Diagnostics Inc., No. 14-3156 (3d Cir....

False Statement / Procedure

19 Aug, 2015

Fourth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of FCA Complaint Alleging Contracting Fraud

In an unpublished decision issued on Thursday, August 13, 2015, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reemphasized Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b)’s “stringent particularity requirement” when it affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s FCA claim, finding “that the district court did not err in concluding that the amended complaint failed to plead fraud with the requisite specificity.” McLain v. KBR, Inc., No. 14-1816...

Procedure

21 Jul, 2015

Ninth Circuit Concludes that Conviction Precludes Relator Recovery

The Ninth Circuit last week held that pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3730(d)(3) of the False Claims Act (“FCA”), a qui tam relator who is convicted of conduct giving rise to the fraud that is the subject of the FCA lawsuit must be dismissed from the lawsuit and is not entitled to a share in any recovery, even if the relator played only a minor role...