Materiality Rules: Escobar Changes the Game
Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.15.17
On May 1, 2017, the Third Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a relator’s claims in United States ex rel. Petratos, et al. v. Genentech Inc. in a False Claims Act (FCA) case in which the relator alleged that pharmaceutical manufacturer Genentech had suppressed data about a cancer drug’s side effects. Applying the materiality analysis from the Supreme Court’s decision in Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, the Third Circuit “join[ed] the many other federal courts that have recognized the heightened materiality standard after [Escobar]” and found that the relator failed to allege that Genentech made misrepresentations that were material to government’s decision to pay claims. The Third Circuit’s decision in Petratos is just one of the nearly 100 court opinions that have cited Escobar in the eleven months since the Court’s landmark ruling on the on the implied-certification theory of liability. In a “Feature Comment” published in The Government Contractor, C&M attorneys analyze some of the key cases and explore the developing trends in the wake of Escobar.
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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
