This week, the Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to file a brief expressing the views of the United States on the pleading standards in FCA cases. U.S. ex rel. Nathan v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc., et al., Dkt. No. 12-1349 (Oct. 7, 2013). This move signals that the Court may soon decide whether to grant certiorari and hear a case that has significant implications for the efforts of the whistleblower bar and federal government to leverage the FCA for billions of dollars in recoveries each year.
In the decision at issue, the Fourth Circuit dismissed a complaint by the qui tam plaintiff for his failure to “allege with particularity that specific false claims were presented to the government for payment,” which the court held was necessary to satisfying the heightened pleading requirements of Rule 9(b). Circuits are split on this issue, with the Sixth, Eight, and Eleventh Circuits adopting the standard articulated by the Fourth Circuit, while the First, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits have allowed qui tam claims to survive based only on “reliable indicia that lead to a strong inference that claims were actually submitted.” See, e.g., U.S. ex rel. Grubbs v. Kanneganti, 565 F.3d 180, 190 (5th Cir. 2009).
It is unclear for which approach the Solicitor General may advocate. In a case involving similar issues three year ago, the Solicitor General merely noted that the First Circuit’s more-relaxed pleading requirement “deepens an existing circuit conflict.” There, the Solicitor General recommended that the Court answer the fundamental pleading question raised by the Circuit split—albeit not in that particular case. See Ortho Biotech Prods., L.P. v. U.S. ex rel. Duxbury, Dkt. No. 09-654.
