Forum
U.S. Supreme Court
Case Status
Docket Number
Term
2022 Term
Lower Court Opinion
Questions Presented
Whether and when a defendant's contemporaneous subjective understanding or beliefs about the lawfulness of its conduct are relevant to whether it "knowingly" violated the False Claims Act.
Case Updates
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Safeco standard in False Claims Act context
June 01, 2023
The Court held that the Act’s scienter requirement may be satisfied if defendants correctly understand an ambiguous legal provision and subjectively believe their claims are inaccurate, regardless of whether they can point to a contrary, objectively reasonable interpretation of the provision.
U.S. Chamber files coalition amicus brief
March 28, 2023
The coalition amicus brief urges the Supreme Court to hold that if a defendant’s conduct was consistent with an objectively reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous provision, the defendant cannot be liable under the False Claims Act unless authoritative guidance warned the defendant away from that interpretation.
John P. Elwood, Craig D. Margolis, Christian D. Sheehan, and Jayce Born of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP and the U.S. Chamber’s Litigation Center served as co-counsel for the U.S. Chamber.