The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed that a qui tam relator’s original complaint, rather than any amended complaints subsequently filed in the action, is the “proper point of reference” for analysis under the False Claims Act’s (“FCA’s”) first-to-file rule. Cho on behalf of States v. Surgery Partners, Inc., No. 20-14109 WL 982126 (11th Cir. 2022).
Background
Relators filed their original complaint in April of 2017, alleging that the defendants routinely pressured medical providers to order laboratory tests that were not medically necessary. Additionally, the relators alleged that the defendants also ran excessive test panels that were not medically necessary. These relators filed an amended complaint in January of 2019. However, a separate group of relators had already filed a qui tam action in August of 2016, eight months prior to this suit, alleging the same fraud scheme. This original lawsuit reached settlement in August of 2020. After that settlement, the Cho relators filed a Second Amended Complaint, which was dismissed by the trial court under the first-to-file rule.
The Original Complaint Is the Proper Point of Reference
The defendant moved to dismiss the relator’s suit on several grounds, one of which argued that the relator’s suit was barred by the FCA’s first-to-file rule. The first-to-file rule states that “[w]hen a person brings an action under [the FCA], no person other than the Government may intervene or bring a related action based on the...
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