United States Fourth Circuit

In a False Claims Act (FCA) action based on alleged false statements in contracts Defendants entered into with the provisional authority in Iraq, the grant of Defendants' Rule 50(a) motion is affirmed in part, where there was insufficient evidence to show a fraudulent statement in one of the challenged contracts, but reversed in part where, under the FCA, a claim made to the grantee of U.S. money is not defined by the amount of money that the U.S. government paid directly to the claimant.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/10/2009
• Published 04/10/2009

Judges

• Before NIEMEYER, SHEDD, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:  Douglas Neal Letter, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the United States of America, Amicus Supporting Appellants;  Alan Mark Grayson, Grayson & Kubli, P.C., Vienna, Virginia, for Appellants.  Barbara Van Gelder, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, L.L.P., Washington, D.C.;  Robert Thomas Rhoad, Crowell & Moring, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellees.   ON BRIEF:  Victor A. Kubli, Grayson & Kubli, P.C., Vienna, Virginia, for Appellants.  Salvatore A. Romano, Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellees Custer Battles, LLC, Secure Global Distribution, a resident of Lebanon, Middle East Leasing, a Cayman Islands entity, Custer Battles Levant, a Lebanese entity, Scott Custer, County of Fairfax, Virginia, and Michael Battles, State of Rhode Island;  Andrew M. Miller, Wiley Rein, L.L.P., Washington, D.C., for Appellee Joseph Morris.  Daniel Schumack, Schumack Ryals, P.L.L.C., Fairfax, Virginia, for Taxpayers for Common Sense, Amicus Supporting Appellants.  James W. Moorman, Joseph E.B. White, Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, Washington, D.C., for Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, Amicus Supporting Appellants.  Peter D. Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Scott R. McIntosh, Attorney, Appellate Staff, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.;  Chuck Rosenberg, United States Attorney, Alexandria, Virginia, for the United States of America, Amicus Supporting Appellants.