In a recent decision, US ex rel. CKD Project, LLC v. Fresenius Medical Care Holdings, No. 21-2117 (2d Cir. Dec. 20, 2022), the Second Circuit held that because defendant's securities filings had previously revealed the same corporate transactions on which relator later based its qui tam suit, the False Claim Act's public disclosure bar compelled dismissal of the suit. This decision sheds light on critical threshold issues for qui tam cases involving prior regulatory filings.
In November 2014, relator CKD Project (CKD) sued Fresenius Medical Care Holdings and other defendants under the FCA, accusing them of paying physicians for patient referrals by overpaying physician-owners for dialysis centers, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. Defendants moved to dismiss based on the FCA's public disclosure bar, arguing that its SEC filings had already disclosed the material elements of its dialysis center acquisitions that formed the basis for CKD's claims. The district court granted the motion and denied leave to amend.
On appeal to the Second Circuit, the court considered closely both whether the defendants' SEC filings were sufficient to trigger the FCA's public disclosure bar and whether relator satisfied the "original source" exception to the bar. With respect to the public disclosure bar, the court explained that the bar applied as long as the "material elements" of the allegedly fraudulent transactions were disclosed, even if the "alleged fraud, itself" was not itself...
Dish Wireless LLC agreed to pay roughly $17 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act, common law, and the Communications Act of 1934 relating to claims submitted to Fed...