United States Tenth Circuit

In an action under the reverse false claims provision of the False Claims Act (FCA), alleging that defendants altered thousands of beef and hide export certificates issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), rather than obtaining replacement certificates, in order to avoid paying the fees charged by the USDA for replacement certificates, partial judgment for plaintiff is reversed where: 1) plaintiff effectively invited the district court to bifurcate the original source issue from the merits issues; 2) plaintiff's substantial rights were not adversely impacted by the district court’s instructional error; and 3) the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing defendant to cross-examine plaintiff regarding his prior litigation history.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/26/2010
• Published 10/26/2010

Judges

• Mary Beth Briscoe

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• George Bryan Ulmer, III, Patricia C. Campbell