Commercial Litigation Update

In its recent unpublished decision, United States ex rel. Stebbins v. Maraposa Surgical Inc., 2024 WL 4947274 (3d Cir. Dec. 3, 2024), the Third Circuit clarified that the public disclosure bar prevents whistleblower False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam actions arising from information gathered solely through publicly accessible databases.

As the Third Circuit explained, “[t]he FCA punishes the submission to the Government of fraudulent claims for payment under, for example, the Medicare and Medicaid programs.”  Id. at *1.  While the FCA encourages individuals, known as relators, to report government-related fraud by way of filing a qui tam suit, the public disclosure bar prevents a relator from bringing an FCA qui tam suit “if substantially the same allegations or transactions as alleged in the action or claim were publicly disclosed” in a “Federal report” or “from the news media” unless the relator is “an original source of the information.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(e)(4)(A).  In the Third Circuit, “the public disclosure bar applies if either Z (fraud) or both X (misrepresented facts) and Y (true facts) are publicly disclosed by way of a listed source.” Stebbins, 2024 WL 4947274, at *2 (quoting U.S. ex rel. Zizic v. Q2Administrators, LLC, 728 F.3d 228, 236 (3d Cir. 2013)). 

In United States ex rel. Stebbins v. Maraposa Surgical Inc. et al., despite having no affiliation whatsoever with the defendants, the relator filed a qui tam action alleging, inter alia, that the defendants fraudulently sought reimbursement for the arteriograms performed in a physician’s office, rather than a licensed ambulatory surgery center, which the relator asserted violates Pennsylvania’s regulations.  Without deciding whether the defendants actually engaged in any wrongdoing, the Third Circuit held that the public disclosure bar prohibited the relator from proceeding with suit because the relator drew each piece of information supporting his FCA allegations from publicly disclosed databases.