The Supreme Court granted certiorari in a case that will decide two important questions under the False Claims Act (FCA). In United States ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., the Relator asks the Court to decide:
1. Whether the government has authority to dismiss an FCA suit after initially declining to proceed with the action, and
2. What standard applies if the government has that authority.
Relator Jesse Polansky is a former consultant to Executive Health Resources, Inc. (EHR), a company that assists hospitals and physicians in submitting bills to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs. Petitioner alleged that EHR filed false claims by billing Medicare for inpatient medical services that should have been billed at lower outpatient rates.
The Petitioner filed his FCA qui tam action in 2012, and the United States declined to intervene in 2014. In 2019, the government moved to dismiss the FCA action, citing the significant burden on government resources if the case continued, the need to protect privileged information, and the government’s doubts about the Relator’s credibility and his ability to prove any FCA violation.
The Third Circuit first decided that the government may move to dismiss an FCA action after declining to intervene, but held that the government must first intervene in the action before moving to dismiss. The Court of Appeals nevertheless construed the government’s motion to dismiss as including a motion to intervene.
As to the...
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