SCOTUS Case Could Swing FCA Claims Toward Whistleblowers

Alex Ward spoke to the National Law Journal about the U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments for United States ex re. Schutte v. SuperValu, a False Claims Act (FCA) dispute that requires consideration of the defendant’s subjective intent.

According to Alex, the internal deliberation speaks to the vagueness of the regulation, adding that in his many years in the government contract space have shown him that regulations and statutes often fail to take every outcome into account, and his job as a lawyer is to find the best outcome for his client, even if it’s an aggressive one.

“So what do you do? If you turn out to have made the wrong legal interpretation, does that subject you to liability?” Alex said, noting that usual missteps in the government contract space can lead to fines. But if the door to FCA claims swings open, it could increase to treble damages or worse.

To that end, Alex envisions a possibly narrow reading, but admits that could be impactful on future FCA fights: making evidence of subjective intent admissible at early stages of a claim.

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