Court Opinion

ID: 9439114
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 06:22:12.993351+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:26:09.995070
License: Public Domain

KAREN LeCRAFT HENDERSON, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part:
The district court’s Rule 50 judgment on Yesudian’s False Claims Act retaliation claim should be affirmed because Yesudian never produced evidence to show, as the majority acknowledges he must, “that his employer was aware of his protected activity.” Maj. Op. at 743. Such a showing requires a plaintiff to have put the employer on notice not only that he is investigating fraud but also that the fraud is against the federal government, so as to potentially support a qui tam suit or a direct suit by the government. See United States ex rel. McKenzie v. BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., 123 F.3d 935, 944 (6th Cir.1997) (“ ‘[A]n employee must supply sufficient facts from which a reasonable jury could conclude that the employee was discharged because of activities which gave the employer reason to believe that the employee was contemplating a qui tam action against it.’ ”) (quoting Mikes v. Strauss, 889 F.Supp. 746, 753 (S.D.N.Y.1995)) (alteration by McKenzie court); Robertson v. Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., 32 F.3d 948, 951 (5th Cir.1994) (employee must put the employer on notice that he is “concerned about the company defrauding the government”); United States ex rel. Ramseyer v. Century Healthcare Corp., 90 F.3d 1514, 1522 (10th Cir.1996) (“When seeking legal redress for retaliatory discharge under the FCA, plaintiff has the burden of pleading facts which would demonstrate that defendants had been put on notice that plaintiff was either taking action in furtherance of a private qui tam action or assisting in an FCA action brought by the government.”); United States ex rel. Hopper v. Anton, 91 F.3d 1261, 1269-70 (9th Cir.1996) (concluding school principal who repri*749manded teacher did not have requisite “retaliatory intent” because even if she knew of teacher’s complaints to California Department of Education, teacher “never gave any indication she was investigating the School District for defrauding the federal government”). Because Yesudian offered no evidence that he put his employer on such notice, I dissent from the majority’s reversal of the district court’s False Claim Act judgment.