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Supreme Court will hear False Claims Act qui tam case
June 22, 2009 by Ross Runkel at LawMemo
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari today in Graham County Soil & Water Conservation Dist v. United States ex rel Wilson (Certiorari granted 06/22/2009) [Details, briefs]
Karen Wilson was an employee of the Graham County Soil and Water Conservation District. She brought a qui tam suit under the federal False Claims Act against various entities alleging that they had made false claims against the United States.
In a qui tam action an individual sues in the name of the United States and is allowed to keep a portion of the proceeds. However, there must not have been a prior public disclosure of the information of alleged wrongdoing that forms the basis of the suit. If there has been a prior public disclosure of information in an “administrative ... report ... audit, or investigation,” then the district court lacks jurisdiction over the case.
The issue in this case is the scope of the "public disclosure" jurisdictional bar contained in the False Claims Act, 31 USC §§ 3729-33. The district court concluded that certain audits and reports issued by state and local governmental entities satisfied the requirements of the public disclosure bar and therefore deprived the district court of subject matter jurisdiction.
The 4th Circuit concluded that the public disclosure bar applies to federal administrative audits, reports, hearings or investigations, but not to those conducted or issued by a state or local governmental entity.
This issue has divided the circuit courts.
The US Supreme Court granted certiorari to review the judgment of the 4th Circuit.
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