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Supreme Court to Tackle Implied Certification FCA Liability

Client Alert | 1 min read | 12.08.15

The Supreme Court has granted review in Universal Health Servs. v. U.S. ex rel. Escobar to decide whether (1) the implied certification theory of legal falsity under the False Claims Act is ever viable; and (2) whether, if it is, a contractor's reimbursement claim can be legally false under that theory if the provider failed to comply with a statute, regulation, or contractual provision that does not state that it is a condition of payment. As described in a recent article by C&M attorneys (available here), eight of the thirteen circuits have accepted the implied certification theory in some form, with only the Seventh Circuit rejecting the theory outright, but the approving circuits have articulated varying tests for its application.


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Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.26.25

From ‘Second’ to ‘First:’ Federal Circuit Tackles Obvious Claim Errors

Patent claims must be clear and definite, as they set the boundaries of the patentee’s rights. Occasionally, however, claim language contains errors, such as typographical mistakes or incorrect numbering. Courts possess very limited authority to correct such errors. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has emphasized that judicial correction is appropriate only in rare circumstances, where (1) the error is evident from the face of the patent, and (2) the proposed correction is the sole reasonable interpretation in view of the claim language, specification, and prosecution history. See Group One, Ltd. v. Hallmark Cards, Inc., 407 F.3d 1297, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) and Novo Indus., L.P. v. Micro Molds Corp., 350 F.3d 1348, 1357 (Fed. Cir. 2003)....