A Supreme Court decision expected in June could give providers the necessary tools to protect themselves from unwarranted accusations of making fraudulent claims under that False Claims Act.
The court heard oral arguments April 18 in what could be a landmark decision regarding the False Claims Act scienter, or knowledge, standard.
The arguments came in a pair of consolidated cases about whether a defendant’s subjective knowledge of the law is equal to objective knowledge in filing a false claim. The cases fell under the FCA whistleblower provision — the oldest whistleblower regulation on the books, dating back to the Civil War — that rewards whistleblowers who confidentially disclose fraud that results in a financial loss to the federal government.
To be liable under the FCA, a defendant knowingly must make a false claim to the government. The high court will look at “whether a defendant’s subjective intent and objective intent with regard to the FCA scienter standard is relevant where the conduct is consistent with an objectively reasonable interpretation of the relevant standard and the government issued no authoritative guidance countering that interpretation,” lawyers at Morgan Lewis wrote in an article last week.
Lower courts found that “the knowledge standard could not be met due to the ambiguity of the regulation and the fact that the companies in this particular situation believe that the regulations were not in violation of the statute,” attorney Katie McDermott,...
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