The U.S. Supreme Court granted two cert. petitions on June 21 – one involving the extent of the federal government’s authority to dismiss private parties’ claims under the False Claims Act (FCA) and another involving how courts should count violations of the Bank Secrecy Act’s requirement to report foreign financial accounts.
Both petitions raise questions that split the lower federal courts of appeals, and the Supreme Court’s answers is likely to have widespread significance, for hundreds of FCA suits are filed each year and millions of foreign financial accounts are subject to the reporting requirement. FCA litigators, as well as lawyers assisting American expatriates and others with foreign financial accounts, are likely watching these cases closely.
In United States ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., the Court will address a longstanding circuit conflict regarding the federal government’s authority to dismiss FCA suits brought by private parties.
The FCA imposes civil liability on anyone who knowingly presents a “false or fraudulent claim for payment” to the federal government, and it provides that such civil liability can be recovered by an action brought either by the government or by a private party (called a “relator”). When a relator initiates such a suit, the FCA provides that the federal government has 60 days to decide whether to intervene and “proceed with the action” itself or to...
PRESTONSBURG, Ky. — A third high-ranking employee has filed suit against Mountain Comprehensive Care Center, claiming she was fired for not following orders to submit false billing codes. Kristy St...