Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-2_09-cv-03617/USCOURTS-caed-2_09-cv-03617-10/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 890
Nature of Suit: Other Statutory Actions
Cause of Action: 31:3729 False Claims Act

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

BIOTRONIK, INC., et al., 

Defendants. 

No. 2:09-CV-03617-KJM-EFB 

ORDER 

 TEMPORARILY UNDER SEAL 

 

On January 24, 2014, the United States made its ninth ex parte request under the 

False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(3), to extend the time by four months for the United States 

and plaintiff states to inform the court whether they will intervene in this qui tam lawsuit. (ECF 

47.) Defendant Biotronik, Inc. does not object to the proposed four month extension of time. The 

relator objects to the requested extension. (ECF 48.) 

 On July 25, 2013, the court granted the United States’ eighth ex parte request for 

an extension of the seal period. However, in a prior order, the court had advised that any further 

request by plaintiffs for an extension should be accompanied by “a more detailed justification 

than provided to date, which the court will scrutinize carefully.” (ECF 42 (citing U.S. ex. rel. 

Costa v. Baker & Taylor, Inc., 955 F. Supp. 1188, 1190-91 (N.D. Cal. 1997).) 

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 Congress contemplated a term of 60 days for the United States to determine 

whether it would intervene in a qui tam action. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(2). If good cause is shown, 

a court may grant extensions of time. Id. § 3730(b)(3). “The ‘good cause’ requirement of the 

statute is, therefore, a substantive one, which the government can only satisfy by stating a 

convincing rationale for continuing the seal.” U.S. ex rel. Costa, 955 F. Supp. at 1190. As 

explained below, the government has not stated a convincing rationale. 

 The original complaint in this case was filed more than four years ago on 

December 31, 2009. The United States now seeks to keep this matter under seal for additional 

four months. However, nothing in the declaration of United States’ counsel accompanying the 

instant application demonstrates why continued seal is critical to the successful prosecution of 

this case. Because the only two corporate defendants in this matter, Biotronik, Inc. and Western 

Medical, Inc., have known about the allegations against them, and because a parallel criminal 

case has been pending in Nevada for some time, the notion that continued sealing is required 

strains credulity. 

 This case deals with possible fraud on the government and on consumers of 

medical devices and services. Absent a showing of good cause to continue sealing such 

information of important public concern, the public’s “general right to inspect and copy public 

records and documents, including judicial records and documents,” Nixon v. Warner Comms., 435 

U.S. 589, 597 (1978), weighs in favor of denying the instant application. 

 The court finds there is no good cause to grant the United States’ ninth request to 

extend sealing. 

The United States is ordered to elect to intervene no later than fourteen days from 

the date of this order. Whether or not the United States elects to intervene, the party prosecuting 

this case is directed to serve all defendants with the summons and complaint no later than twentyone days from the date of this order. On the twenty-first day from this order, the seal on this case, 

and all documents associated with it on the court’s docket, will be lifted. This order is filed under 

seal only until the twenty-first day from the date shown below 

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IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: April 30, 2014. 

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