Opinion ID: 204068
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Source.

Text: The FCA's public disclosure bar further requires that the disclosure emanate from a source specified in the statute. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730(e)(4)(A); see also United States ex rel. LeBlanc v. Raytheon Co., 913 F.2d 17, 20 (1st Cir.1990). The airing of the events that are said to reflect the City's true housing policy, published in the Woonsocket Call and the Providence Journal, constitutes a disclosure from the news media and, thus, a disclosure from a listed source. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730(e)(4)(A). It is less clear whether the disclosure of the City's allegedly false promise, which came about through the FOIA response, falls within the compendium of sources listed in section 3730(e)(4)(A). Although this circuit has not yet answered that question, two data points lead us to conclude that such a response is an administrative ... report and, thus, falls within the taxonomy of section 3730(e)(4)(A). First, it cannot be gainsaid that responding to a FOIA request constitutes an administrative action. After all, the response originates with a federal agency, and its transmission to the requestor constitutes official government action. See generally 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3) (describing agency's responsibilities upon receipt of FOIA request). Second, a FOIA response is a report, at least in the sense that it constitutes an official statement concerning the results of the agency's search of its files. See id. Given these data points, there is a logical basis for concluding that a FOIA response is an administrative ... report within the meaning of section 3730(e)(4)(A). Several courts have so held. See, e.g., Grynberg, 389 F.3d at 1049; Reagan, 384 F.3d at 176; Mistick, 186 F.3d at 383-84. The Ninth Circuit, however, has reached a different conclusion. See United States v. Cath. Healthcare W., 445 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir.2006). That court suggested that whether a response to a FOIA request triggers the public disclosure bar depends on the nature of the document retrieved by means of the request: unless the underlying document itself emanates from a source enumerated in section 3730(e)(4)(A), the second prong of the public disclosure bar is not satisfied. Id. at 1153. The court reasoned that a FOIA response could not categorically qualify as an administrative report because such a characterization denotes a document that includes an analysis of findings, and responding to a FOIA request requires little more than duplication of an agency's files. Id. We see no reason to narrow the definition of report so drastically. After all, the word report is typically defined as something that gives information. Webster's Third New Int'l Dict. 1925 (2002). The result of an agency's search of its files in response to a FOIA request fits comfortably within this broad definition. See Mistick, 186 F.3d at 383-84 & n. 4. To cinch matters, the Ninth Circuit's interpretation fails to lend any independent significance to the act of responding to a FOIA request. Just as transmittal of the FOIA response to the relator constitutes an act of public disclosure, the end product of the government's search (locating and compiling the requested documents) independently constitutes an administrative reportand this is so regardless of the character of the underlying documents. The Ninth Circuit also expressed concern that if a FOIA response is categorically deemed an administrative report, it would deter individuals from either making FOIA requests or investigating suspected fraud. Cath. Healthcare, 445 F.3d at 1155 n. 5. This is pure speculationand speculation that ignores legislative intent. Congress plainly intended the FCA to encourag[e] lawsuits by relators who have firsthand knowledge of fraud against the government. Glaser v. Wound Care Consultants, Inc., 570 F.3d 907, 910 (7th Cir. 2009) (emphasis supplied). An individual who obtains information through FOIA disclosures in order to uncover fraud is not a person with firsthand knowledge (and, thus, not a person whom Congress chose to reward under the FCA). To say more on this point would be supererogatory. For these reasons, we reject the Ninth Circuit's interpretation of administrative ... report, [3] adopt the majority view, and hold that a FOIA response is an administrative report within the purview of the FCA. The second Rost requirement is, therefore, satisfied.