Host Jonathan Porter welcomes Husch Blackwell litigator Tanner Cook to discuss how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision from earlier this year could have a major influence on False Claims Act litigation. The Court’s decision in Loper Bright ended decades of so-called Chevron deference, which held that courts had to defer to administrative agencies’ interpretation of the law when a statute was silent or ambiguous on a particular issue. Instead, Loper Bright affirms the idea that courts reviewing agency actions “decide all See more +
Host Jonathan Porter welcomes Husch Blackwell litigator Tanner Cook to discuss how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision from earlier this year could have a major influence on False Claims Act litigation. The Court’s decision in Loper Bright ended decades of so-called Chevron deference, which held that courts had to defer to administrative agencies’ interpretation of the law when a statute was silent or ambiguous on a particular issue. Instead, Loper Bright affirms the idea that courts reviewing agency actions “decide all relevant questions of law.” This change could have a powerful impact on FCA litigation, as private businesses more easily will be able to mount legal challenges to agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutory language.
Jonathan and Tanner focus the discussion on Loper Bright’s implications on the concept of materiality, a key statutory component for determining FCA liability. “Material” in the FCA context describes factors that impact the government’s payment decisions, and much hangs on this concept when whistleblowers allege FCA-related fraud. After all, not all regulatory violations are material.
Jonathan and Tanner discuss recent litigation in which defendants have employed Loper Bright to challenge an agency’s interpretive rules—that is, an agency’s interpretation of law, rather than its substantive rulemaking tied to an explicit statutory delegation of power—under the theory that rules lacking the force of law are ipso facto nonmaterial. Given the significant percentage of FCA cases premised on obscure interpretative rules, Loper Bright changes the scope of legal analysis and could assist defendants in limiting FCA liability. See less -
