In an order issued on April 16, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court invited the Solicitor General to file a brief “expressing the views of the United States” concerning the 2017 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in the False Claims Act (FCA) case U.S. ex rel. Campie v. Gilead Sciences, Inc. (see our previous analysis of the case here). The Campie case is noteworthy because it created a split among the circuit courts as to the scope of the “government knowledge” defense to materiality under the FCA following the Supreme Court’s 2016 Escobar decision. In Escobar, the Supreme Court upheld the viability of the “implied false certification” theory of liability under the FCA in certain circumstances, and explained that for FCA liability to attach to a misrepresentation concerning compliance with a statutory, regulatory or contractual requirement, the misrepresentation must be material to the government’s payment decision.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Order Indicates Interest in Reviewing Campie, the False Claims Act Outlier of the Ninth Circuit
Solicitor General
Government and Microsoft In Agreement that Pending Case Mooted by CLOUD Act
On March 30, 2018, Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Microsoft Corporation that seeks to vacate the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in the case (which held in favor of Microsoft) and to remand the case with directions to dismiss it as moot. The motion was submitted in response to the passage of the CLOUD Act on March 23, 2018, and the Solicitor General’s subsequent letter to the Court on that same date prefacing its intent to submit a supplementary filing to address the effect of the CLOUD Act on the Court’s disposition of the Microsoft case (see previous discussion here).
In its motion, the government “respectfully submits that this case is now moot” because the CLOUD Act “resolves the question presented” by amending the Stored Communications Act (SCA), in part, to state that service providers subject to a court order issued under the SCA are obligated to produce information within their “possession, custody, or control” without regard to whether the information is stored within or outside of the United States. The government further discloses that following enactment of the CLOUD Act, the government actually obtained a new warrant thereunder, and consequently Microsoft’s objection that the prior warrant issued under the SCA impermissibly sought to compel extraterritorial action is no longer applicable.
Continue Reading Government and Microsoft In Agreement that Pending Case Mooted by CLOUD Act
Congress Enacts CLOUD Act within Omnibus Spending Bill to Address Overseas Storage of Electronic Data, Potentially Mooting Supreme Court’s Pending Microsoft Case
On March 23, 2018, the President signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 (H.R. 1625), an omnibus spending bill that includes the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (the CLOUD Act). Among other provisions, the CLOUD Act amends the Stored Communications Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712, hereinafter the SCA) by adding a new § 2713 which states as follows:
Continue Reading Congress Enacts CLOUD Act within Omnibus Spending Bill to Address Overseas Storage of Electronic Data, Potentially Mooting Supreme Court’s Pending Microsoft Case