Contractor Claims Forfeited Under Fraud Statutes
Client Alert | 1 min read | 08.06.14
The Federal Circuit in Veridyne Corp. (July 15, 2014) held that a contractor whose claims for payment were forfeited under the Special Plea in Fraud Statute (applicable when the contractor "knew that its submitted claims were false and . . . intended to defraud the government by submitting [its] claims") was not entitled to recovery even in quantum meruit for the value of work completed and accepted by the government. At the same time, the Federal Circuit upheld the imposition of False Claims Act penalties for each invoice submitted under a contract extension because the contractor's misleading proposal caused the extension to be "infected with fraud," and it upheld additional, CDA penalties for invoices found to be "unsupported."
Contacts
Insights
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
