False Claims Act

Under 31 U.S.C.§ 3730, the government may dismiss a federal False Claims Act case despite the objection of the relator who filed it.  The DC Circuit has held that the executive branch wields unreviewable discretion in choosing to dismiss a False Claims Act suit.  (Swift v. United States (D.C. Cir. 2003) 318 F.3d 250, 252.)  The Ninth Circuit holds that… Read More

The United States chose not to intervene in Thrower's False Claims Act suit, but later filed a motion to dismiss the case.  The district court denied the motion to dismiss because it found the US had failed to meet its burden of demonstrating a valid governmental purpose related to the dismissal and because it failed to fully investigate the allegations… Read More

A plaintiff's success in fending off a demurrer, summary judgment motion, or other pretrial motions does not immunize it from a later finding that the False Claims Act cause of action was frivolous and corresponding award of attorney fees. Read More

Plaintiff's False Claims Act complaint alleged that all the defendant health insurers submitted false claims using false diagnoses of patients' medical condition from the same vendor, and no further differentiation among the health insurers was needed to satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) since they all acted the same way. Read More

Plaintiff avoided summary judgment in a False Claims Act suit by showing defendant expressly agreed, as a condition of receiving federal student aid, not to pay incentive compensation to its recruiters, but then violated that agreement and still submitted claims for student aid. Read More

Employee’s claim that employer had breached its fiduciary duties under ERISA in managing an employee benefit plan was not subject to arbitration since the benefit plan was not a party to the relevant arbitration agreement. Read More

Relators stated an actionable False Claims Act claim for fraud against defendant drug manufacturer, claiming that defendant had obtained a key active ingredient for HIV antiretroviral drugs it sold to the U.S. government from unapproved Chinese factories and that the improperly sourced ingredient was adulterated.  Read More

A federal False Claims Act suit was properly dismissed because the suit was based on facts publicly disclosed in a prior suit and the plaintiff was not the original source of that information, but learned it only as a party to the prior suit.  Read More

Resolution of the underlying lawsuit (here by a settlement) does not automatically moot an appeal by a person who unsuccessfully sought to intervene in the action, so long as effective relief may still potentially be awarded the would-be intervenor. Read More

For purposes of the False Claims Act, plaintiff (a New York Deputy AG) did not fall within the pre-2010 definition of an “original source,” because he had only suspicions—not direct knowledge—of defendant’s fraudulent overcharging of the government for wiretaps, and he disclosed those suspicions in response to a FCC inquiry rather than voluntarily.  Read More