DC Circuit Enforces Escobar's Materiality Requirement

This week, the D.C. Circuit added to the post-Escobar, materiality jurisprudence with its opinion in United States ex rel. McBride v. Halliburton Co., No. 15-7144 (Feb. 17, 2017). In its decision, the court affirmed the trial court's granting of summary judgment in favor of KBR because the misrepresentation alleged by relator Julie McBride did not go to a material requirement of the contract.

McBride, a former KBR employee, had alleged that KBR overbilled the government by inflating data regarding the number of servicemembers who had used KBR-run recreational facilities in Iraq from July 2004 to March 2005. She also claimed that the company destroyed sign-in sheets to conceal the falsity of the headcount data. Though her legal theory was less than precise, McBride essentially argued that KBR used inflated headcounts to justify excessive staffing levels at its recreational facilities and that the personnel costs it charged the government were unreasonable as a result.