Second Circuit Rejects Insufficient Service-Of-Process Argument, Adopts Relator-Friendly Rule

On November 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the service-of-process clock for a False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam complaint begins to run when the district court orders the complaint to be served, not when the district court unseals the complaint.

Although district courts frequently order declined qui tam complaints to be unsealed and served concurrently, that does not always happen, as this case shows.

In U.S. ex rel. Weiner v. Siemens AG, the relator filed a qui tam complaint in 2012 asserting claims under the FCA and New York state law. The United States declined to intervene that same year, but the complaint remained under seal while New York investigated the state law claims. The complaint was finally unsealed in 2019, and over a year later, the court directed the parties to file a status report. Soon after the submission of the status report, the relator indicated that he was prepared to serve the complaint "immediately after such