United States Ninth Circuit

In a civil action brought under the False Claims Act against defendants for making false statements to procure home mortgage insurance from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), summary judgment against defendants is affirmed where: 1) they were liable under the FCA for making false claims even though they sought only to fraudulently induce HUD to insure mortgages, not to have the buyers default or cause the mortgage holders to make claims on HUD; 2) regardless of the causation standard applied, the evidence in the case satisfied it; and 3) a claim that the correctly-calculated judgment against them violated the Eighth Amendment was meritless.

Appellate Information

• Argued 06/04/2008
• Decided 12/05/2008
• Published 12/05/2008

Judges

• Before:  WILLIAM C. CANBY, JR. and JAY S. BYBEE, Circuit Judges;  JUSTIN L. QUACKENBUSH, Senior District Judge.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Lawrence C. Ecoff, Esq., Beverly Hills, CA, and Michael D. Nasatir, Esq., Santa Monica, CA, for the appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Steve Frank, Douglas N. Letter, and Brian R. Young, Attorneys, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the appellee.