United States Fourth Circuit

Judgments in qui tam actions which assessed a single civil penalty in the sum of $5,500 in favor of the government as to a single portion of its claim pursuant to the False Claims Act (FCA), decreed judgment for defendants on the remainder of the FCA claim, as well as common law claims asserted by the government in the same action, granted judgment as to liability with respect to a single FCA claim alleged by relator Bunk and against defendant in the second action but denied Bunk recovery of civil penalties on that claim, are: 1) affirmed in part, as to the judgment for relator Bunk, where he possessed standing to sue for civil penalties while bypassing the prospect of a damages award; 2) reversed in part, as to the trial court's denial to Bunk of the recovery of any penalties, and remanded for entry of his requested award of $24 million, which is not excessive; and 3) vacated in part and remanded, where the Shipping Act confers no immunity upon defendant for any part of the government's FCA claim.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/19/2013
• Published 12/19/2013

Judges

• KING

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel