Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio at Cleveland.
No. 1:17-cv-00558—Dan A. Polster, District Judge.
Argued: June 9, 2021
Decided and Filed: May 16, 2022
Before: ROGERS, WHITE, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.
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OPINION
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ROGERS, Circuit Judge. In this qui tam action under the False Claims Act, relator
USN4U alleges that Wolf Creek Federal Services and several of its employees submitted falsely
inflated project estimates to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for
facilities maintenance projects to be performed by Wolf Creek, resulting in the negotiation of
fraudulently induced, exorbitant contract prices. Relying in part on NASA’s subsequent decision
to pay the invoices and continue to contract with Wolf Creek, and on the Government’s decision
not to intervene in USN4U’s claim, the district court dismissed the suit for failure to allege that
Wolf Creek’s work order proposals were materially false or caused NASA to pay the allegedly
exorbitant prices. USN4U’s amended complaint, however, adequately alleged fraud,
notwithstanding NASA’s later contractual decisions and the fact that the Government declined to
intervene.
. . .
USN4U has accordingly stated a plausible claim under the FCA. We of course take no
position on whether, following appropriate discovery, summary judgment would be warranted
for failing to show a genuine issue of material fact. We reverse the judgment of the district court
and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. |