Opinion ID: 3016988
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: We have, on several prior occasions, engaged in extensive reviews of the history and background of the False Claims Act. See, e.g., United States ex rel. Dunleavy v. County of Del., 123 F.3d 734, 738 (3d Cir. 1997); Stinson, 944 F.2d at 1152-54; id. at 1162-68 (Scirica, J., dissenting). And we have expended a fair amount of ink examining various aspects of the Act’s jurisdictional bar provision.6 To resolve the instant 6 See, e.g., United States ex rel. Mistick PBT v. Hous. Auth., 186 F.3d 376, 382-89 (3d Cir. 1999) (holding that regarding the FCA jurisdictional bar provision, a response to an FOIA request was a public disclosure and an action is based upon a public disclosure if it sets out either the allegations advanced in the action or all the essential elements of the action’s claims); id. at 389-403 (Becker, C.J., dissenting) (arguing for a narrower interpretation of what constitutes a public disclosure and stating that the majority opinion on the “critical issue” of the construction of “based upon” was “manifestly incorrect”); Stinson, 944 F.2d at 1154-61 (holding that under the FCA jurisdictional bar provision the disclosure of discovery material 10 appeal, we need not reopen Pandora’s box with respect to certain requirements of the Act, such as the contours of the “public disclosure” requirement. Nor do we choose to resolve the issue that the District Court addressed, namely, whether Paranich’s knowledge was “direct” given the role his attorney played in the investigation. This is because we see the instant matter as turning on an issue we have not previously addressed, namely, the requirement that the source must have provided information to the government “voluntarily.” In broad strokes, the FCA imposes penalties on persons who knowingly submit fraudulent claims to the government. To encourage the ferreting out of fraud against the government, the FCA incentivizes private individuals aware of such fraud to bring civil actions as relators against those submitting such claims by allowing relators to collect a percentage of any recovery. Prior to filing such a civil action, known as a qui tam action, the relator must disclose the information regarding the fraud to the government. The government then has sixty days to intervene and take over the action. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b). If the government does not do so, the relator may continue with the to a party not under a court imposed limitation as to its use was a public disclosure); id. at 1162-76 (Scirica, J., dissenting) (arguing for a narrower interpretation of public disclosure focusing on public accessibility); see also Mistick, 186 F.3d at 390, 391 (Becker, C.J., dissenting) (stating that Stinson was “wrongly decided” and a “candidate, at some point in time, for en banc consideration” for broad holding regarding what constitutes a public disclosure). 11 action unless the FCA’s jurisdictional bar provision is triggered. The jurisdictional bar provision operates to exclude qui tam actions based upon allegations of fraud or fraudulent transactions that have been publicly disclosed prior to their filing. The provision was “designed to preclude qui tam suits based on information that would have been equally available to strangers to the fraud transaction had they chosen to look for it as it was to the relator.” Stinson, 944 F.2d at 1155-56. This provision does, however, contain a “savings clause,” preserving suits brought by an “original source” of the information even where there have been prior public disclosures. The text of the jurisdictional bar provision reads: (A) No court shall have jurisdiction over an action under this section based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a congressional, administrative, or Government [General] Accounting Office report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or from the news media, unless the action is brought by the Attorney General or the person bringing the action is an original source of the information. (B) For purposes of this paragraph, “original source” means an individual who has direct and independent knowledge of the information on which the allegations are based and has voluntarily provided the information to the Government before filing an action under this 12 section which is based on the information. 31 U.S.C. § 3730(e)(4). As enumerated elements, this section divests courts of subject matter jurisdiction where: (1) there was a “public disclosure”; (2) “in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a congressional, administrative, or Government [General] Accounting Office report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or from the news media”; (3) of “allegations or transactions” of the fraud; (4) that the relator’s action was “based upon”; and (5) the relator was not an “original source” of the information. Cf. Dunleavy, 123 F.3d at 738. We will employ this catalog of elements to structure our analysis, touching on certain aspects more briefly than others.