United States First Circuit

In plaintiff's qui tam action against a city under the False Claims Act claiming that the city had defrauded the federal government by making false statements to the Department of Housing and Urban Development when applying for federal grants, dismissal of the case is affirmed where the was no error in a conclusion that the FCA's public disclosure bar applied to divest the district court of subject matter jurisdiction over the action as: 1) the city's alleged misrepresentation and what the plaintiff alleges was the city's true plan were sufficiently in the public domain to ground an inference of fraud; 2) the public disclosure occurred in the manner specified in the statute; 3) plaintiff's suit is based upon those publicly disclosed allegations or transactions; 4) plaintiff does not qualify for the original source exception; and 5) district court did not err in precluding certain testimony during an evidentiary hearing.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/18/2009
• Published 11/18/2009

Judges

• SELYA, Circuit Judge., Before TORRUELLA, SELYA and HOWARD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Leon A. Blais, with whom Blais & Parent was on brief, for appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Michael B. Galvin, with whom Justin P. O'Brien and Dwyer & Collora LLP were on brief, for appellees.