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2 

UNITED STATES EX REL. SCHUTTE v. SUPERVALU INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

The cases before us today involve a legal standard similar 
to that latter example: In certain circumstances, pharma-
cies  are  required  to  bill  Medicare  and  Medicaid  for  their 
“usual  and  customary”  drug  prices.    And,  critically,  these
cases involve defendants (respondents here) who may have
correctly understood the relevant standard and submitted 
inaccurate claims anyway.  The question presented is thus
whether  respondents  could  have  the  scienter  required  by
the  FCA  if  they  correctly  understood  that  standard  and 
thought that their claims were inaccurate.

We hold that the answer is yes: What matters for an FCA
case  is  whether  the  defendant  knew  the  claim  was  false. 
Thus,  if  respondents  correctly  interpreted  the  relevant 
phrase and believed their claims were false, then they could
have known their claims were false. 

I 

The FCA permits private parties to bring lawsuits in the 
name  of  the  United  States—called  qui tam  lawsuits— 
against those who they believe have defrauded the Federal 
Government.  §3730(b).  Petitioners here brought two such
lawsuits against respondents, which are companies that op-
erate  hundreds  of  retail  drug  pharmacies  nationwide.  In 
No. 21–1326, respondents are a group of companies that we
collectively  call  SuperValu;  in  No.  22–111,  respondent  is 
Safeway, Inc.  According to petitioners, respondents over-
charged Medicare and  Medicaid programs for years when
seeking reimbursement for prescription drugs that the pro-
grams covered.  In doing so, petitioners argue, respondents 
defrauded the Government and violated the FCA. 

A 
The claims at issue here relate to two federal benefits pro-
grams:  Medicaid,  which  establishes  a  cooperative  federal-
state program that provides medical assistance to certain
low-income  individuals,  see  42  U. S. C.  §1396  et seq.,  and