United States Ninth Circuit

In plaintiff's qui tam suit under the False Claims Act (FCA), claiming that the defendant defrauded the United States Air Force under a contract involving software and hardware used to support space launch operations at an Air Force Base, district court's judgment in favor of the defendant is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) district court did not err in concluding that plaintiff failed to establish his claims of fraudulent use of certain procedures because there is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendant knowingly submitted a false claim; 2) district court did not err in its evidentiary rulings; 3) district court's dismissal of plaintiff's wrongful discharge claim as barred by California's two-year statute of limitations is reversed, as in a case arising under federal question jurisdiction, a transferee district court must apply the stat statute of limitations that the transferor district court would have applied had the case not been transferred on forum non conveniens grounds; and 4) district court's dismissal of plaintiff's claim that defendant violated the FCA by knowingly underbidding the contract is reversed as there is a genuine issue of material fact whether defendant acted either knowingly, in deliberate ignorance of the truth, or in reckless disregard of the truth when it submitted its bid for the Air Force contract.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/02/2012
• Published 08/02/2012

Judges

• Pregerson

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel