In an article for Law360, Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Matt Curley provided an analysis of the oral arguments in U.S. ex rel. Michaels v. Agape Senior Community Inc., the Fourth Circuit case closely watched by False Claims Act practitioners. The Fourth Circuit agreed to consider an interlocutory appeal of the district court’s rulings in the case on both the use of statistical sampling and the reviewability of the government’s consent to the settlement of FCA claims after the government declined to intervene in a qui tam action.
As Matt concludes in his analysis:
The questions posed by the panel suggest that the most likely outcome of this interlocutory appeal will reflect a decision by the Fourth Circuit that affirms the conclusion by the district court that the government enjoys an unfettered statutory right to object to a settlement reached between a relator and a defendant in a declined qui tam action, while determining that the Fourth Circuit does not have jurisdiction to reach the question of whether the district court abused its discretion in denying the relators’ motion seeking permission to rely upon statistical sampling.
The full article, “FCA At The 4th Circ.: Contemplating 2 Key Issues,” was published by Law360 on October 27, 2016, and is available online.