Substantial Penalties Under the FCA Without Real Damages Violates Eighth Amendment
Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.23.12
Using reasoning that could prove useful to other FCA defendants, the court in U.S. ex rel. Bunk v. Birkart Globistics GmbH & Co. (E.D. Va. Feb. 14, 2012), after the jury found over 9,000 false claims based on invoices submitted, refused to award statutory penalties of between $50.2 and $100.4 million. The court held that, when the qui tam relator failed to show that the government suffered any damage, imposing penalties of this magnitude would have violated the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause and, because it lacked discretion under the FCA to fashion a civil penalty that would be within Constitutional limits, no penalties could be imposed.
Insights
Client Alert | 6 min read | 07.17.25
On 11 July 2025, the European Commission published the final version of its Code of Practice for General-Purpose Artificial Intelligence (GPAI). This Code is meant to serve as a tool for GPAI model providers, helping them to comply with the transparency, copyright and security provisions governing general-purpose AI models as set out in the AI Act (arts. 53 and 55), which will become applicable on 2 August 2025. Adherence to the Code is on a voluntary basis.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 07.17.25
(Not the Funniest) Weekend Update: Recap of Recent Developments in the EU-US Tariff Dispute
Client Alert | 5 min read | 07.16.25
Client Alert | 8 min read | 07.16.25