In U.S. v. Genesis Global Healthcare, 2023 WL 3656925 (S.D. Ga. May 25, 2023), a Georgia district court denied three (3) Motions to Dismiss the Second Amended Complaint filed in a qui tam action brought by relators under the False Claims Act (the “FCA”) and the Georgia False Medicaid Claims Act. The court, having previously held that the relators’ First Amended Complaint amounted to an improper shotgun pleading, found that the Second Amended Complaint adequately remedied the court’s concerns. The court’s ruling reaffirms the pleading standards of claims brought under the FCA and serves as a guide for both courts and parties alike to the pleading requirements a complaint must satisfy to survive a motion to dismiss.
Generally, a complaint will survive a motion to dismiss if it states a plausible claim and allows a court to reasonably infer the defendant’s liability for the allegations made therein. Merely reciting the elements of a cause of action followed by a general statement of liability is insufficient. Further, where a complaint alleges claims under the FCA, Rule 9(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule 9(b)”) applies and requires that the complaining party “state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b). As noted by the court, Rule 9(b) imposes a more exacting pleading standard and requires the complaint to allege facts as to time, place, and substance of the defendant’s alleged fraud, specifically the...
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