False Claims Act: 2012 Year-In-Review

INTRODUCTION

The upward trends in False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement that we described in our 2011 Year in Review continued in 2012. In the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) secured $4.9 billion in FCA settlements and civil judgments, beating the previous record by more than $1.7 billion. Federal FCA recoveries since January 2009 add up to $13.3 billion, which is the largest four-year total in DOJ history.¹ Large settlements came not only in the healthcare sector as in past years but also from financial institutions in areas such as mortgage fraud. Qui tam relators and the DOJ continued the push to expand FCA liability by arguing that claims become false if the company submitting them violated a regulatory or contract requirement connected with the goods or services that are being reimbursed by the government, since the claims carry a false "implied certification" of regulatory and contract compliance, thereby