UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FORTHE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA United States Treasury Department ) ex reI J. Trent Mosby, ) Plaintiff, 

# FILED FEB 

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# a2009 NANCYMAv rERWH/TT. u.s. DISTRIIJT

### ~J~~' CLERK

v. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Civil Action No. 

# 09 U352

Duke Terrell etai., Defendants.
MEMORANDUM OPINION This matter is before the Court onplaintiffspro se complaint and application to proceed informapauperis. The Court will grant the application and will dismiss the complaint for lack ofsubject matterjurisdiction. I Plaintiffis a prisoner at the Federal Medical Center in Rochester, Minnesota, suing under the False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 et seq. He alleges that Bureau ofPrisons DirectorHarleyLappin and BOP official Duke Terrell have stolen from the Crime Victims Fund by allegedly lying about the amounts deposited to the Fund under 18 U.S.C. § 4048(g), governing the allocation ofmonies generated from fees prisoners pay for health care services. The FCA authorizes private persons to bring actions in the name ofthe Government against persons who have violated § 3729 by either filing a false claim orhaving defrauded the Government with respect to claims or Governmentproperty in certain other ways. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b). But "[n]o court shall havejurisdictionover an action under this section based upon the public disclosure of
... transactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a congressional, administrative, or Government Accounting Office report, hearing, audit, or

I "Ifthe court determines at any time that it lacks subject-matterjurisdiction, [it] must dismiss the action." Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3).investigation, or from the news media, unless the
...the personbringing the action is an original
source ofthe information." 

### § 3730(e)(4)(A). "'[O]riginal source' means an individual who has direct and independent knowledge ofthe information on whichthe allegations are based and has voluntarilyprovided the information to the Government before filing an action under this section which is based on the information." § 3730(e)(4)(B). The original source's knowledge must be "firsthand." Us. ex reI. Davis v. District of Columbia,
_ F. Supp.2d. _ , 2008 WL 5332817 

## *3 (D.D.C., Dec. 23,2008). Plaintiffs claim is based on annual reports the BOP Director is required to provide Congress under 18 U.S.C. §4048(k) that he obtained through the Freedom oflnformation Act. CompI. at 4. Because plaintiffhas alleged no first-hand knowledge about the preparation ofthe reports, he cannot possibly qualify as an original source. See RockwellIntern. Corp. v. Us., 594 U.S. 457, 127 S.Ct. 1397, 1405 (2007); Us. ex rei. Davis, 2008 WL 5332817 

## *3 ("Knowledge is 'direct' ifitis acquired through the relator's own efforts (i.e., without an intervening agency)
..

. .Knowledge is 'independent' ifthe relator would have had it absent the public disclosure.") (quoting UnitedStates ex rei. Springfield Terminal Rwy. Co. v. Quinn, 14 F.3d 645, 656 (D.C. Cir. 1994)). Thus, the Court lacksjurisdictionoverthis action, which, in any event, cannot be prosecutedprose. See Us. ex rei. Lu v. Ou, 368 F.3d 773, 775 (7th Cir. 2004) ("[T]he same policy that forbids litigants
... to be represented by nonlawyers
... is applicable to qui tam suits." (citation omitted); accord Us. ex rei. Fisher v. Network SoftwareAssociates, Inc., 377 F. Supp.2d 195 (D.D.C. 2005); Us. ex rei. Rockefellerv. Westinghouse Electric Co., 274 F. Supp.2d 10 (D.D.C. 2003). Accordingly, the complaint will be dismissed. A separate Order accompanies this Memorandum Opinion.**~** Date: January

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### United States

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