Today, the Supreme Court handed over a win to both the government and the FCA defense bar, finding that the government has broad discretion to move to dismiss a relator-filed case at any point in the litigation. In U.S. ex rel. Polansky v. Executive Health Resources, Inc., the Court found that: (1) the government may move to dismiss even after its initial declination for good cause and so long as it intervenes and (2) Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a) provides the standard for evaluating government dismissal motions under 31 USC ' (c)(2)(A), and the government should be afforded "substantial deference" in these motions.
Justice Kagan delivered the 8-1 opinion for the Court. Justice Thomas ' who has established himself as the Court's most prolific author in the FCA space, having drafted the opinions in Escobar and Schutte ' dissented. Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett filed a concurring opinion.
In Polansky, the government initially had declined to intervene while the case was under seal. The relator proceeded with the case, and the parties spent years in discovery. Facing mounting discovery obligations and...
