f11photo | Shutterstock

The Senate is set to consider a bipartisan bill, S. 2428, that would make substantive and procedural amendments to the False Claims Act. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted the bill out of conference on October 28, 2021, referring it to the Senate for vote.

If passed, the proposed amendments would make a number of potentially harmful changes to the FCA. For example, S. 2428 would constrain the Department of Justice’s right to dismiss FCA complaints filed by relators—raising constitutional as well as practical problems. It also threatens to undermine existing Supreme Court precedent on materiality and potentially ease the plaintiff’s burden of proof in False Claims Act cases.

Source: