The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that applied the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act to a civil False Claims Act case.
The WSLA was enacted in 1942 to lengthen the time allowed to prosecute fraud offenses against the U.S. and its agencies during times of war "until five years after termination of hostilities as proclaimed by a presidential proclamation, with notice to Congress, or by a concurrent resolution to Congress."
In the Fourth Circuit case of Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc., et al. v. United States ex rel. Carter — a civil FCA case — the court applied the WSLA. The court held the FCA statute of limitations had been suspended since the beginning of the war in Iraq, and the statute of limitations would not begin to run until five years after the president or Congress proclaims the hostilities are terminated.
In July, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case. If the Supreme Court applies the WSLA to civil FCA cases, the ruling would present tremendous risk to hospitals and other healthcare providers.
The FCA statute of limitations is six years, meaning a case alleging violations of the Act could not be pursued if the alleged illegal conduct occurred before September 2008. However, if the WSLA is applies, cases could be brought for conduct that occurred as early as 2001, when the armed conflict in Afghanistan began.
The brief sent by the AHA and others notes the Fourth Circuit is the only court that has applied the WSLA to a civil FCA action. In their brief, the groups argue the Fourth Circuit's interpretation "would not significantly aid the fight against actual fraud, which is already well-served by the existing tools available."
The groups further argues the Fourth Circuit's rule will only provide whistle-blowers and the government a means to revive decades-old claims that would otherwise be barred by the statute of limitations and repose, which will lead to significant "unwarranted" costs on healthcare organizations.
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