There has been an unusual amount of False Claims Act activity at the Supreme Court in recent months. FCA practitioners were excited to learn in June that SCOTUS granted review to consider the scope of the Department of Justice's authority to dismiss FCA actions in US ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc.—the first FCA case the high court has taken since 2019's decision in Cochise Consultancy v. US ex rel. Hunt.
Since then, FCA practitioners have been wondering whether this will be a banner term as the Court has taken a particularly close look at two FCA pleading issues: the application of Rule 9(b) and whether the fact that a defendant's interpretation of the governing legal standard is objectively reasonable forecloses a showing of scienter. Although the Court recently decided to pass on the former issue, it will likely be making a decision on the latter early in 2023. We at Qui Notes delve into all three issues below.
The stage is set for FCA litigants seeking clarity regarding the government's authority to dismiss declined FCA suits. In Polansky v. EHR, after the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to intervene, the relator continued litigation alone. Years later, DOJ signaled it was considering moving to dismiss the action but would stay out of it if relator narrowed the scope of his claims. After determining that the relator hadn't sufficiently narrowed the claims, DOJ ultimately moved to dismiss and the district court granted the motion.
The...
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday rejected the claims of Congress MLAs from Tamil Nadu being shifted to a resort in Bengaluru post Assembly elections. He further said that ...