Does the common interest doctrine apply to all communications
between a
relator and the government? A recent decision from the District
of Minnesota reinforces that the answer to that question is no. In
U.S. ex rel. Fesenmaier v. Cameron-Ehlen Group, Inc.,
No.13-cv-3003 (WMW/DTS), 2019 WL 6875354 (D. Minn. Dec. 17, 2019),
a relator and the government (which had intervened in the suit)
sought to shield from discovery certain communications that they
had exchanged between April 24, 2013 (the date on which relator
told an FBI agent investigating the defendants that he had hired a
lawyer to draft a qui tam complaint) and September 20,
2013 (the date on which relator submitted its pre-filing disclosure
to DOJ per 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(2)).
