Earlier this year, Senator Chuck Grassley and a bipartisan group of senators introduced the False Claims Amendment Act of 2021, which attempts to revise and “beef up” the False Claims Act to help the government continue to combat fraud.
The initial draft of the legislation had amendments that resulted in more protection to qui tam relators, but not much benefit to any other involved parties. In October 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee marked the legislation up, striking some of the more relator-friendly provisions, but still making huge changes to the False Claims Act, passing the legislation to the full Senate on a 15-7 vote.
What Has Changed
There were essentially four substantive changes in the original proposed legislation: (1) the addition of a materiality burden-shifting mechanism; (2) a discovery cost-shifting provisions; (3) a clarification that resolves a federal circuit split on the standard the Department of Justice (DOJ) must meet to dismiss a relator’s complaint; and (4) a clarification that resolves a federal circuit split regarding whether the anti-relation provisions apply in the post-employment context.
Materiality Burden-Shifting
The proposed legislation initially changed the False Claims Act materiality element. Under the materiality element of a case, the relator (or the government) must to show that the false statement that is the subject of the complaint had an impact on the government’s decision to purchase the good or service. The government...
From False Claims Act exposure and Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS—a supplement to the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)),compliance to export controls and human rights...