Opinion ID: 709078
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Retroactivity of 1986 amendments to the FCA

Text: 17 Congress amended the FCA in October 1986, adding 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3729(b), which defines the mental state necessary for liability for knowingly presenting a false claim as actual knowledge, deliberate ignorance, or reckless disregard. It specifically provides no proof of specific intent to defraud is required. The statute does not indicate whether the amendment is to apply retroactively. 18 The district court applied the amended statute retroactively to MDHC's statements in the Phase II and Phase III Test Reports, which were submitted in November 1983 and April 1986, before the amendments were enacted. In directing a verdict for MDHC, the court held that Butler had not produced evidence by which a jury could conclude that MDHC had acted with even the level of intent described in the 1986 amendment. 19 We need not decide the question of the retroactivity of Sec. 3729(b)(1), given our holding below that the district court properly granted a directed verdict under the amended statute's requirement that a defendant merely act with actual knowledge of falsity rather than with the specific intent to defraud. The district court's finding that MDHC did not act knowingly would have justified a verdict in MDHC's favor under the pre-1986 FCA. 20