Eleventh Circuit Takes Broad View of Escobar’s Materiality Requirement, Reviving $240 Million Qui Tam Whistleblower Lawsuit Involving Unallowable Fees Included in VA Mortgage Loan Guarantees

Court takes “holistic approach” to materiality, rejecting strict focus on the ultimate “payment decision” in significant win for qui tam whistleblowers and the government A few weeks ago, I blogged about United States v. Strock. There, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the Supreme Court’s decision in Universal Health Services v. Escobar—which held that misrepresentations regarding compliance with a statutory, regulatory,

Second Circuit rules that relevant government “payment decision” under Escobar included Veterans Administration’s initial decision to award contracts based on claim that contractor qualified as a “service-disabled, veteran-owned small business”—not just the VA’s subsequent decisions to make payments under those contracts In a key victory for the federal government and qui tam whistleblowers, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed that false statements regarding

Court says that disputed medical judgments present a triable issue for a jury, creating a Circuit split and paving the way for similar whistleblower claims. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a physician’s judgments and opinions can be considered “false” under the False Claims Act, rejecting the Eleventh Circuit’s “objective falsehood” requirement and creating a Circuit split. 

Despite whistleblower claims, federal agency insists it wasn’t defrauded The anti-fraud bar is focused on the upcoming oral argument in the appeal of the trial verdict in United States ex rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries Inc., calendared for Dec. 7, 2016, before the Fifth Circuit. The $663 million verdict — the largest in the history of the federal False Claims Act