• The U.S. Supreme Court's much-anticipated decision in Cochise Consultancy, Inc. et al. v. United States ex rel. Hunt, issued on May 13, 2019, holds that whistleblowers have more time to bring their qui tam suits.
• The...more
5/14/2019
/ Appeals ,
Cochise Consultancy Inc v United States ex rel Hunt ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
First-to-File ,
Government Officials ,
Intervenors ,
Oral Argument ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Statute of Limitations
DOJ Releases Guidance on Cooperation Credit in False Claims Act Cases -
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released guidelines for evaluating self-disclosures and awarding cooperation credit in False Claims Act (FCA)...more
Companies facing liability under the False Claims Act (FCA) often desire early resolution with the Department of Justice (DOJ) through settlement. Hand in hand with the decision to settle comes the decision of whether or not...more
4/26/2019
/ Cooperation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Sentencing Guidelines ,
Fraud ,
Qui Tam ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Remedial Actions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Self-Policing ,
Self-Reporting
The United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case mentioned in our prior blog post, Cochise Consultancy v. United States, ex rel. Hunt, 887 F. 3d 1081 (11th Cir. 2018). The main question before the Supreme...more
3/28/2019
/ Appeals ,
Cochise Consultancy Inc v United States ex rel Hunt ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
First-to-File ,
Government Officials ,
Intervenors ,
Oral Argument ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
SCOTUS ,
Split of Authority ,
Statute of Limitations
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently issued a report highlighting its work conducted in Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. The report provides statistics on the number of audits,...more
In December 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released its annual statistics for its civil False Claims Act (FCA) and fraud cases from the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2018 (fiscal year 2018). The DOJ reports it...more
A recent dismissal of a qui tam action demonstrates there exists an affirmative approach for disposing of wasteful and meritless non-intervened qui tam claims without the time and expense of protracted litigation with...more
10/17/2018
/ Cooperative Agreements ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dismissals ,
Energy Sector ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Frivolous Lawsuits ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inventions ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Nuclear Power ,
Patent Applications ,
Patents ,
Qui Tam ,
Relators ,
Research and Development
Theft of trade secrets typically spurs civil actions against the offender, but theft of trade secrets can also be prosecuted criminally under the Economic Espionage Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1831 et seq. (the “Act”) and other related...more
9/24/2018
/ Criminal Convictions ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Economic Espionage Act ,
FBI ,
Foreign Governments ,
Former Employee ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Misappropriation ,
Source Code ,
Trade Secrets
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced the creation of a Task Force on Market Integrity and Consumer Fraud. Relevant to the contracting and healthcare community, the task force is designed to strengthen the...more
7/19/2018
/ Antitrust Division ,
Civil Liability ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Consumer Fraud ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Currency ,
Elder Abuse ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
FBI ,
Federal Agency Taskforce ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Financial Fraud ,
Fraudulent Procurement ,
Health Care Providers ,
Healthcare Fraud ,
HEAT ,
Investigations ,
Medicare Fraud Strike Force ,
Money Laundering ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Fraud ,
Tax Division ,
Tax Fraud ,
Trump Administration ,
Veterans
Most practitioners are aware that the statute of limitations under the False Claims Act (FCA) is six years after the date on which the violation is committed. 31 U.S.C. § 3731(b)(1). That is, unless the FCA’s tolling...more
5/2/2018
/ Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Dismissals ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
First-to-File ,
Frivolous Lawsuits ,
Government Officials ,
OIG ,
Qui Tam ,
Real Party in Interest ,
Self-Disclosure Requirements ,
Statute of Limitations ,
Time-Barred Claims ,
Tolling Provisions
• A key ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will block qui tam relators from bringing copycat False Claims Act suits.
• In United States ex rel. Max Bennett v. Biotronik, Inc., the Ninth Circuit held...more
There is a renewed focus on the government’s activities for purposes of the False Claims Act (FCA) materiality analysis and as demonstrated by a number of recently issued decisions, the roster of relevant government actors is...more
This is the fifth blog post in a series of blogs analyzing the current draft of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) as agreed-to by House and Senate negotiators on November 8, 2017. Stay tuned for additional...more
Companies involved in False Claims Act suits filed by qui tam relators often find themselves facing potential suspension or debarment from federal contracting. A recent decision out of the United States District Court for the...more