The Supreme Court recently denied petitions for writs of certiorari in three closely watched cases where parties asked the Court to clarify the heightened pleading standard governing fraud allegations under the False Claims Act (FCA).
The heightened pleading requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b) require that, for allegations of fraud (which include FCA claims), "a party must state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake." Among other things, a cause of action for "false claims" must allege the defendants submitted false claims, or caused false claims to be submitted, to the government. The crux of the issue petitioners asked the Court to address is whether, to meet Rule 9(b)'s requirements for FCA causes of action, relators must allege in the complaint specific details of false claims allegedly submitted to the government for payment. This issue typically arises in qui tam cases under the FCA after the government declines to intervene.
In applying Rule 9(b) to FCA causes of action, federal circuit courts have adopted standards that essentially fall along a continuum of the necessary detail regarding specific false claims. For example, the Sixth Circuit has placed a greater emphasis on pleading specific claims and allows pleading either specific false claims or specific facts that lead to a strong inference that a claim was submitted, based on a relator's personal billing-related knowledge. By comparison, the Ninth Circuit more...
A federal jury has convicted a San Francisco man of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with a scheme involving fraudulent insurance claims on already-wrecked vehicles, pros...