Eleventh Circuit Rejects Appointments Clause Challenge to False Claims Act Qui Tam Provisions and Remands for Consideration of Other Constitutional Challenges

By: Charles F. Connolly, Colin M. Huntley, Sara McLean, Robert S. Salcido, Angela B. Styles, Marta A. Thompson, Laura Hill, Emily I. Gerry, Margaret O. Rusconi

Executive Summary

• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued its much-anticipated decision in United States ex rel. Zafirov v. Florida Medical Associates, LLC, No. 24-13581, holding that the qui tam provisions of the FCA do not violate the Appointments Clause of Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
• In rejecting the Appointments Clause challenge, the Eleventh Circuit joins all other circuits that have considered the issue.
• This Court expressly declined to reach the defendants’ challenges under the Take Care and Vesting Clauses of Article II and remanded the case so that the district court can evaluate those issues.

The District Court Decision

On September 30, 2024, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a first-of-its-kind ruling in Zafirov, dismissing a qui tam action on constitutional grounds. The case involved relator Clarissa Zafirov, who sued her former employer and others under the False Claims Act (FCA) for allegedly misrepresenting patients’ diagnosis codes to obtain inflated Medicare reimbursements and submitting hundreds of thousands of false claims. The government declined...

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