Perspective On DOJ Pivot On FCA Enforcement Policy

Two new DOJ policies about False Claims Act enforcement became public last week. First, DOJ's Associate Attorney General announced a new civil enforcement policy that instructs False Claims Act litigators not to use any sub-regulatory guidance to create legal obligations. Second, we learned that DOJ's Civil Fraud section instructed all False Claims Act litigators to consider whether declined qui tam actions should be dismissed under the Department's authority in Section 3730(c)(2)(A) of the False Claims Act. The central theme of this policy is that dismissal of qui tam actions is warranted when it is in the federal interest to do so, and the policy clearly sets out seven such federal interests.