- Court: U.S. Supreme Court Certiorari Granted
- Area(s) of Law: Civil Law
- Date Filed: November 16, 2018
- Case #: 18-315
- Judge(s)/Court Below: 887 F.3d 1081 (11th Cir. 2018)
- Full Text Opinion
The aim of the False Claims Act (“Act”) is to levy penalties and damages on those who file fraudulent claims against the United States. The Attorney General or a private actor on behalf of the government, known as a relator, can file a claim under the Act. If a relator files a claim, it must be filed under seal and the relator must notify the United States for an opportunity to intervene. Petitioner Parsons is an engineering firm that contracted with the United States for a munitions clean up project during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Petitioner Cochise is a private security company that was contracted to guard Parsons’s employees overseas. Respondent Hunt is a former Parsons employee who, as relator, alleged that Parsons defrauded the United States during the munitions clean up project. The relevant statute of limitations precludes claims beyond three years after an “official of the United States” reasonably should have known (or did know) of the fraudulent act. The Eleventh Circuit, diverting from the holdings of the Tenth and Fourth Circuits, held that when the United States does not intervene, the statute of limitations applies to the knowledge of the United States, not the relator. By so holding, the Eleventh Circuit also concluded that relators are not officials of the United States, disagreeing with the Ninth Circuit’s opposite conclusion. Petitioners urge the Supreme Court to resolve the split among the Circuits and reverse the Eleventh Circuit’s decision.