The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released its annual statistical report on recoveries and new matters under the False Claims Act (FCA). The aggregate reported recovery of $2.8 billion for fiscal year (FY) 2018 is the lowest such total since FY 2009 and is 17% lower than last year’s total and less than half of FY 2014’s all-time high recovery of over $6.1 billion. As the table below shows, however, DOJ’s and private qui tam…

The False Claims Act’s statute of limitations is, easily, the most confusing portion of the False Claims Act. On November 16, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in case that has the potential to bring some clarity to the FCA’s statute of limitations. The FCA has two statute of limitations. Normally, a case must be brought within 6 years of “the date on which the violation of [the False Claims Act] is committed.” 31 U.S.C. § …

And it is even more difficult still if the defendant had – and acted in accordance with – a reasonable interpretation of the vague or ambiguous statute, regulation or contract provision. A concurring opinion in a Supreme Court decision issued this week indicates that civil liability in such situations may also be Constitutionally suspect.…

A judge recently unsealed portions of the Department of Justice’s criminal discovery manual that provides Department policy for investigating and prosecuting criminal cases. As the DC Circuit explained two years ago, “[i]t contains information and advice for prosecutors about conducting discovery in their cases, including guidance about the government’s various obligations to provide discovery to defendant.” It was developed in large part in response to the horribly flawed prosecution of the late Sen. Ted Stevens –…

A Memorandum dated January 10, 2018 and authored by Michael Granston, Director of the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, was published on January 24, 2018 (the “Memorandum”). The Memorandum, addressed to DOJ attorneys, describes the factors that government attorneys should consider in deciding whether the government should voluntarily dismiss unmeritorious qui tam suits pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(2)(A). This policy guidance, which was picked up by …