United States Tenth Circuit

Plaintiff-relator's quit tam action, alleging fraudulent measurement of natural gas production, is dismissed under the False Claims Act's "first-to-file bar," which prohibits private relators from bringing a related action based on the facts underlying a pending qui tam case.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/08/2004
• Published 12/08/2004

Judges

• EBEL, Circuit Judge., Before EBEL, McKAY and LUCERO, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jean E. Dubofsky, Jean E. Dubofsky, P.C., Boulder, CO, (Michael S. Porter, Law Offices of Michael S. Porter, Wheat Ridge, CO, with her on the briefs) for Plaintiff-Appellant., Sharon Swingle, Attorney, Appellate Staff, Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D.C. (Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Washington, D.C., Matthew H. Mead, United States Attorney, Washington, D.C., and Douglas N. Letter, Attorney, Appellate Staff, Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, D.C., with her on the brief) for Amicus Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mitchell S. Ettinger, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Washington, D.C. (Jennifer L. Spaziano, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Los Angeles, CA, and Michael A. Ceramella, Koch Industries, Inc., Wichita, KS, with him on the brief) for Defendants-Appellees.