1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |The Top FCA Developments Of 2018

The Top FCA Developments Of 2018

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.04.19

From the government’s renewed use of its dismissal authority to changes to the policy on corporate cooperation credit, the second year of False Claims Act (FCA) enforcement under the Trump administration was defined by several announcements concerning how the Department of Justice (DOJ) will pursue cases under the FCA. These policy reforms are among the many FCA developments highlighted by C&M attorneys in a "Feature Comment" published in The Government Contractor, which considers key issues such as small business fraud, materiality post-Escobar, trade and domestic preferences, and the Supreme Court’s review of a circuit split concerning the statute of limitations.

Contacts

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

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....

View All Insights