Opinion ID: 796376
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dissent Regarding Part III (Statute of Limitations)

Text: 125 Finally, I disagree with the majority's construction of the False Claims Act statute of limitations, 31 U.S.C. § 3731(b). The statute reads: 126 (b) A civil action under section 3730 may not be brought— 127 (1) more than 6 years after the date on which the violation of section 3729 is committed, or 128 (2) more than 3 years after the date when facts material to the right of action are known or reasonably should have been known by the official of the United States charged with responsibility to act in the circumstances, but in no event more than 10 years after the date on which the violation is committed. 129 whichever occurs last. 130 I join the majority in rejecting the Ninth Circuit's view in United States ex rel. Hyatt v. Northrop Corp., 91 F.3d 1211 (9th Cir.1996), that a relator can be the official of the United States charged with responsibility to act in paragraph (2). But I cannot agree that the statute can be read to say that paragraph (2) does not apply to suits by relators. Our view of what Congress must have intended cannot substitute for statutory language. See Robbins v. Chronister, 435 F.3d 1238, 1241 (10th Cir.2006) (en banc) (strictly limiting use of absurdity doctrine to construe statute contrary to its language). Congress may have wanted to limit relators to the six-year limitation period; but it did not say so. I agree with District Judge Benson that there is no ambiguity to resolve. See United States ex rel. Colunga v. Hercules, Inc., No. 89-CV-954B, 1998 WL 310481,  (D.Utah Mar.6, 1998). The majority's invocation of the absurdity doctrine makes no attempt to establish the satisfaction of the extremely strict conditions for application of that doctrine set forth in our recent unanimous en banc opinion on the subject. See Robbins. In any event, as Judge Benson explained, the plain meaning of § 3731(b) is not absurd. Congress could well have decided that a relator should not be time-barred if the government is not. To bar the relator but not the government may accomplish nothing more than preventing the relator from securing her just reward in bringing the matter to court. I would not foreclose, however, the possibility that an equitable doctrine implicitly incorporated in the statute could bar a relator who delays, for improper reasons, reporting fraud to the Government. Cf. Young v. United States, 535 U.S. 43, 49, 122 S.Ct. 1036, 152 L.Ed.2d 79 (2002) (noting that equitable tolling is a background principle generally applied in construing statutes of limitations).