Recent Fifth Circuit Decision Spotlights Perils Of Complex Procedural Issues

On August 25, 2015, the Fifth Circuit vacated and remanded a district court's order denying a relator's Rule 60(b) motion for relief from dismissal based upon new evidence in the False Claims Act (FCA) case of United States ex rel. Gage v. Davis S.R. Aviation, LLC, No. 15-50141 (on appeal from Case No. 1:12-cv-00904-SS in the Western District of Texas). The district court had denied the Rule 60(b) motion because its underlying dismissal of the complaint was on appeal to the Fifth Circuit. In remanding, the Fifth Circuit held that the district court was required to consider the Rule 60(b) motion on its merits prior to denying it, and that not doing so was an abuse of discretion. Because the district court failed to consider the merits of the Rule 60(b)  motion, it must now address that motion on remand even though, as a review of the pleadings demonstrates, there is little basis for relief.