The nation’s three leading government contractor organizations—The Coalition for Government Procurement, the National Defense Industrial Association, and the Professional Services Council—are jointly urging the Supreme Court to clarify the “particularity” with which a False Claims Act qui tam relator must allege fraud in order to survive a motion to dismiss.
The groups’ amicus curiae brief, authored by Capital Appellate Advocacy founder Lawrence S. Ebner, supports the petition for writ of certiorari in Medical Device Business Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Nargol, No. 17-1108. That petition asks the Court to enforce application of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b), which requires that any plaintiff “alleging fraud . . . must state with particularity the circumstances constituting fraud” (emphasis added). The question presented is whether a False Claims Act qui tam relator can satisfy Rule 9(b)’s “particularity” requirement without alleging details about any specific false claim. The government contractors’ amicus brief discusses the importance of Rule 9(b)’s heightened pleading standard and argues that strict, nationally uniform enforcement of Rule 9(b) is needed to maintain the viability of the federal procurement system.