A recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit joins other recent decisions in questioning the use of the False Claims Act in contract and administrative disputes, rather than in outright fraud cases, according to a report in Lexology.
The case involved a claim that selling faulty infusion devices to the government was a violation of the FCA, based on an implied false certification theory of liability under the statute. The official ruling of the court was a "cognizable implied false certification claim under the FCA" was not established by the prosecution. However, a concurring opinion from the court advocated "restoring Congress's statutory distinction between falsity and fraud, and using traditional, common-sense understandings of those terms, in combination with 'strict enforcement of the Act's materiality and scienter requirements,'" according to the report.
The decision follows similar rulings from the Sixth Circuit and a Massachusetts district court, according to the report.
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