The past 18 months have been a (relatively) wild time for the False Claims Act — on the books since 1863. In FY2018 the Department of Justice obtained more than $2.8 billion in settlements and judgments from cases involving fraud and false claims against the United States government.
Add to this staggering statistic the fallout of the Supreme Court’s decision in Universal Health Services Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, circuit splits on key timing provisions, and a change in DOJ leadership, and we are left with some very costly questions. Fortunately, government enforcement agencies and the Supreme Court are providing some much-needed guidance on open issues and interpretative revisions that make it an opportune time to take another look at “Lincoln’s Law.”
