United States ex rel. Hartpence v. Kinetic Concepts, Inc., No. 12-55396 (9th Cir. July 2015) is one of many recent decisions limiting a contractor’s ability to dismiss False Claims Act (“FCA”) lawsuits at an early stage of the litigation. In Hartpence, the Ninth Circuit resurrected two FCA cases in one sweeping decision by interpreting the public disclosure and first-to-file bars in a relator-friendly manner that further erodes the protections contractors have against potentially parasitic FCA lawsuits filed after the government is aware of the alleged fraud.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Narrows Application of the False Claims Act’s Public Disclosure and First to File Bars
original source
Third Circuit Requires Actual Knowledge of Fraudulent Claim to Satisfy FCA’s “Direct” Knowledge Requirement
By Heather Finstuen & Alan Pemberton on
Posted in False Claims Act
The Third Circuit recently ruled that a qui tam relator must have “direct knowledge” of the fraud or false statements at issue in order to satisfy the False Claims Act’s (“FCA”) “original source” jurisdictional requirement. A relator fails to satisfy the direct knowledge requirement where his or her allegations are mere inferences based on the review of agreements and documents, discussions of those documents with others, or conclusions based on industry experience. The case is U.S. ex rel. Schumann v. Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals L.P., No. 13-1489 (3rd Cir. Oct. 20, 2014).
Continue Reading Third Circuit Requires Actual Knowledge of Fraudulent Claim to Satisfy FCA’s “Direct” Knowledge Requirement