Following recent changes to Department of Justice policy regarding individual accountability in government investigations of corporate wrongdoing, DOJ has recently further demonstrated its willingness to consider a flexible approach in applying the False Claims Act. In a January 28, 2019 speech by Deputy Associate Attorney General Stephen Cox to the 2019 Advanced Forum on False Claims… Continue Reading
A January 10 internal memorandum from the director of the fraud section of the DOJ’s civil division commercial litigation branch, which has recently become public, sets out the factors the government should consider in dismissing False Claims Act (FCA) cases in which it has declined to intervene, and may suggest a greater possibility that the… Continue Reading
Last year in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar et al. (discussed on this blog), the Supreme Court reminded litigants that the False Claims Act “is not an all-purpose antifraud statute.” In that case, the Court expanded upon the FCA’s materiality standard, calling it both “rigorous” and “demanding.” How demanding that… Continue Reading
In the midst of a False Claims Act (FCA) case, the relators have blatantly violated the FCA’s seal provision. Surely this will lead to dismissal, right? Wrong. On Tuesday, December 6, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that violating the FCA’s seal requirement does not necessarily demand that a case be dismissed. The case before the… Continue Reading
During a recent webinar sponsored by the Washington Legal Foundation, we explored the impacts intensive individual-focused criminal enforcement can have on an industry, using the recent history of criminal enforcement of food safety laws as a case study. The individual prosecutions we discussed in that context were based in large part on application of the… Continue Reading
Courts generally agree in False Claims Act cases that the government alone does not count as “the public” for purposes of the Act’s public disclosure bar. The current bar calls for dismissal of complaints whose allegations have already been publicly disclosed, with the aim of preventing parasitic suits. Seven circuits subscribe to the view that… Continue Reading
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