In the summer of 2023, Justice Thomas suggested in a dissenting opinion in U.S. ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources that Article II of the Constitution might not permit a qui tam relator to sue in the name of the...more
The Supreme Court’s decision in Wisconsin Bell v. United States ex rel. Todd Heath clarifies what constitutes a “claim” under the federal False Claims Act (FCA). ...more
On Feb. 18, 2025, in a case seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against the SEC, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a Notice of Change in Position indicating that the DOJ will no longer defend in litigation "the...more
On February 9, DOJ filed an emergency motion seeking to dissolve, modify or clarify a temporary restraining order issued by the U.S. SDNY, which prohibited certain political appointees and DOGE members from accessing the...more
Designed for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, this newsletter seeks to bring you up to speed on key federal and state False Claims Act (FCA) developments, with links to primary resources. Each quarter, we...more
The qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act allow individuals to file suit on behalf of the United States and to receive a share of the resulting financial settlement or judgment. Filing a qui tam case is not just a formal...more
Whistleblower programs are the gifts that keep giving to enforcement agencies, driving a record number of cases, sanctions and awards across multiple agencies. In this ninth installment of Season's Readings, we revisit some...more
For over 160 years, the False Claims Act has let people bring claims on behalf of the U.S. government alleging fraud. In exchange, those individuals receive a portion of any recovery. In September, a federal district judge...more
This landmark decision, if upheld on appeal, has the potential to drastically reduce the number of False Claims Act actions brought against government contractors. A U.S. District Court in Florida held that the qui tam...more
A tool long-favored by the plaintiffs' bar to extract big judgments and settlements from individuals and companies – the False Claims Act (FCA) – which allows individual whistleblowers to pursue alleged civil wrongdoers in...more
A valuable tool in filing whistleblower claims against companies related to government fraud took a potentially major hit this week when a federal judge in Florida ruled that a significant portion of the statutory scheme...more
On September 30, 2024, Judge Kathryn Mizelle of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida dismissed United States, ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, LLC et al., a False Claims Act (FCA) case...more
Last year, Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissent in United States ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., 599 U.S. 419 (2023) (“Polansky”), resurrected an old debate about whether the False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam...more
Last term, in U.S. ex rel. Polansky v. Exec. Health Res., Inc., three Justices noted that there are “substantial arguments” that the False Claims Act’s (FCA) qui tam provisions do not conform with Article II of the...more
This July, we detailed the Supreme Court’s surprising revival in United States ex rel. Polansky v. Exec. Health Resources, No. 21-1052 (S. Ct. June 16, 2023) of the question of whether the qui tam provisions of the False...more
Do the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA), see 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1), violate the Executive Branch’s exclusive grant of authority under Article II of the United States Constitution? This long-dormant question...more
DOJ may dismiss qui tam False Claims Act cases at any point, as long as it intervenes in the case and satisfies the deferential Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) standard. The US Supreme Court, in its 8-1 June 16,...more
On June 16, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued an 8-1 decision in the case of United States, ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., which held that the Department of Justice (DOJ) can move to dismiss...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) dismissal authority: Supreme Court will resolve Circuit split in standard, but DOJ seems unlikely to pick more fights with relators. For nearly two decades, when DOJ invoked its authority...more
Arguments were heard in the case of United States ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., No. 21-1052 to determine whether and on what statutory grounds, the government, after initially declining to intervene,...more
Article II of the Constitution provides that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and...more
Perhaps the single most appropriate word to describe the current state of the civil and criminal healthcare fraud enforcement environment is uncertainty. From changes in personnel and policy at the highest levels of...more
On November 29, the SEC did an about-face and admitted its ALJs are “inferior officers” (not merely employees) subject to the Constitution’s Article II appointment provisions. The Solicitor General’s brief on behalf of the...more
Federal Appeals Court Rejects Government Bid To Reinstate Travel Ban - After hearing an emergency oral argument late Tuesday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower federal court judge and late today upheld...more
The question of forum selection by the SEC was a key issue this week. While to date suits challenging the SEC’s right to bring an action as an administrative proceeding rather than in federal court have had little success –...more