Showing 4 posts in Supreme Court.
Recent Supreme Court Ruling Gives Whistleblowers More Time
SCOTUS delivered a unanimous opinion on May 13, 2019 affirming a Eleventh Circuit ruling that (1) the extended limitations period of up to 10 years applies to whistleblower-initiated False Claims Act lawsuits in which the government has declined to intervene and (2) whistleblowers in nonintervened cases are not "the official of the United States" referred to by the statute. This decision resolved a three circuit split. More

Escobar decision continues to affect major FCA cases
In 2016, the Supreme Court decided the landmark FCA case Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 136 S.Ct. 1989 (2016). Escobar resolved a circuit split over the implied false certification theory of liability under the FCA, upholding the theory as valid but tightly circumscribing its scope through a "rigorous" interpretation of the Act's materiality and scienter requirements—holding that "[a] misrepresentation about compliance with a statutory, regulatory, or contractual requirement must be material to the Government's payment decision in order to be actionable under the False Claims Act." Escobar, 136 S.Ct. at 1996. This holding continues to percolate through the federal courts, proving determinative in several recent cases of interest. More

Materiality after Escobar: Why Government Behavior after a Defendant Presents a False Claim Is Not Dispositive
In Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016), the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split over the implied false certification theory of liability under the False Claims Act (FCA). As opposed to express false certification, where the defendant allegedly has made an affirmative false statement regarding its compliance with underlying statutory or regulatory requirements, implied false certification is based on the defendant's failure to disclose its noncompliance with these requirements. In Escobar, the Court upheld implied false certification as a valid theory of liability under the FCA, but tightly circumscribed its scope through a "rigorous" interpretation of the Act's materiality and scienter requirements, holding that "[a] misrepresentation about compliance with a statutory, regulatory, or contractual requirement must be material to the Government's payment decision in order to be actionable under the False Claims Act." Escobar, 136 S. Ct. at 1996. More

Why the False Claims Act Should be Read Broadly: Supreme Court Nominee Merrick Garland's Dissent in U.S. ex rel. Totten v. Bombardier Corp.
In U.S. ex rel. Totten v. Bombardier Corp., 380 F.3d 488 (D.C. Cir. 2004), Merrick Garland, president Obama's Supreme Court nominee, delivered a powerful dissent arguing that 31 U.S.C. 3729(a)(2) (now Section (a)(1)(B)) of the False Claims Act does not require a person to present a false claim directly to the Government; rather, liability should attach if a person made a false claim in order to get paid by the Government, whether the claim was presented to the Government or not (this construction of Section 3729(a)(2) was validated four years later by a unanimous Supreme Court in Allison Engine Co., Inc. v. U.S. ex rel. Sanders). More
Recent Posts
- Second Chance Body Armor - A False Claims Act Case Study
- Wage Law Violations in Federal Construction Contracts
- Before Blowing the Whistle: 5 Things You Should Know
- False Claims Act and the Opioid Crisis
- Fighting Environmental Fraud with the False Claims Act
- Do Pre-Filing Releases in Private Agreements Bar False Claims Act Lawsuits?
- Telehealth Fraud
- DOJ's New Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative
- COVID-19 Vaccine Fraud and the False Claims Act
- The False Claims Act Under the Biden Administration
Topics
- Ambulance Fraud
- Circuit Court Opinions
- Corporate Fraud
- Cost-Plus Contracts
- Criminal Fraud Charges
- Department of Justice
- Evidence
- Farm Subsidy Fraud
- Goldberg Kohn
- Grant Fraud
- Healthcare Fraud
- Higher Education
- Housing and Urban Development
- Kickbacks
- Legal Procedures
- Legislation
- Materiality
- Medicaid
- Medical Devices
- Medicare
- Military & Defense Fraud
- Nursing Home Fraud
- Pharmaceutical Fraud
- Price Gouging
- Qui Tam
- Real Estate Fraud
- Rule 9(b)
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Shipping Industry
- Supreme Court
- Tax Fraud
- Unnecessary Medical Services and Procedures
- Upcoding
- Whistleblower Awards
- Whistleblower Information
- White House