United States ex rel. Moore & Co. v. Majestic Blue Fisheries — qui tam — reversal — Rendell

The False Claims Act enables someone to sue someone else for defrauding the government — FCA suits are commonly called qui tam suits. (For example, there’s a big qui tam suit against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong related to his doping while sponsored by the US Postal Service.) This case involves a law firm that brought a qui tam suit alleging that foreign nationals fraudulently obtained fishing licenses reserved for citizens. The district court granted summary judgment for the defendants, but today the Third Circuit reversed. The main issue was whether the law firm’s suit survived the FCA’s public disclosure bar, and the court held that it did because it alleged information that was independent of and materially added to publicly disclosed information about the alleged fraud.

Joining Rendell were Vanaskie and Nygaard. Arguing counsel were Clay Naughton for the law firm and Robert Salcido of Akin Gump for the appellees.

Wiest v. Tyco Electronics Corp. — civil — affirmance — Greenberg

The Third Circuit today affirmed a district court’s ruling granting summary judgment against a former employee in an action for retaliation brought under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Joining Greenberg were Fuentes and Chagares. The case was decided without oral argument.