State Farm Fire and Casualty Company v. United States, ex rel. Rigsby

Case Updates

The Supreme Court held that a violation of the “seal” requirement of the False Claims Act by a relator does not require automatic dismissal of the relator’s case but did note that in proper cases sanctions for seal requirements should be available.

The U.S. Chamber and Financial Services Roundtable filed an amicus brief on the merits, explaining that there has been a significant increase in FCA lawsuits and abuse by private relators. Furthermore, the FCA’s seal requirement should be rigorously enforced because the court of appeals’ unbalanced “balancing” test invites relators to break the rules, and any balancing approach should punish bad faith and guard against reputational harms.

Robert A. Long, Mark W. Mosier, and David M. Zionts of Covington & Burling LLP served as co-counsel for the amici.

The petition for writ of certiorari was granted, limited to Question 1 presented by the petition.

The U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to grant a writ of certiorari in a False Claims Act (“FCA”) case to review the standards for dismissal where a relator violates the seal and the application of the scienter requirement. In its joint brief with the Financial Services Roundtable, the Chamber argued that the remedy for violations of the FCA’s seal requirement is an important issue for the business community and that a strict standard for corporate scienter under the FCA must be maintained to limit abuse by relators.

Robert A. Long, Mark W. Mosier, and David M. Zionts of Covington & Burling LLP served as co-counsel for the amici.