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UNITED STATES EX REL. SCHUTTE v. SUPERVALU INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

similarly  stated  that  “[w]e  may  have  some  issues  with 
U&C” and that “if you [match a] price offer, that becomes 
your usual and customary [price] for that day.”  30 F. 4th 
649,  667  (CA7  2022)  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted). 
Other  documents  directed  Safeway’s  employees  to  match 
Walmart  prices,  but  cautioned  that  employees  should  not 
“put any of this in writing to stores because our official pol-
icy is we do not match.”  Id., at 666.  Petitioners argue that 
this and other evidence show that respondents thought that 
their claims were inaccurate yet submitted them anyway. 

C 

Before proceeding, some context about how these cases 
reached us is useful to understand the question presented. 
The FCA (as relevant here) imposes liability on those who 
“knowingly presen[t] . . . a false or fraudulent claim for pay-
ment or approval.”  §3729(a)(1)(A).  Thus, two essential el-
ements of an FCA violation are (1) the falsity of the claim
and (2) the defendant’s knowledge of the claim’s falsity.

In SuperValu’s case, the District Court ruled against Su-
perValu on the falsity element—it determined that Super-
Valu’s  discounted  prices  were  its  “usual  and  customary” 
prices and that, by not reporting them, SuperValu submit-
ted  claims  that  were  false.    But,  the  District  Court  then 
granted summary judgment for SuperValu based on the sci-
enter  element,  holding  SuperValu  could  not  have  acted 
“knowingly.”  Soon after, it granted Safeway summary judg-
ment on the same basis. 

The  Seventh  Circuit  affirmed.  9  F. 4th  455  (2021).    In 
doing so, it relied heavily on Safeco Ins. Co. of America v. 
Burr, 551 U. S. 47 (2007)—a case that interpreted the term
“ ‘willfully’ ” in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), id., at 
52.  Specifically, the Seventh Circuit read Safeco to dictate 
a  two-step  inquiry  for  ascertaining  whether  a  defendant 
acted recklessly or knowingly.  At step one, the Seventh Cir-