{"ID":63076,"name":"Cochise Consultancy Inc. v. United States, ex rel. Hunt","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2018\/18-315","view_count":0,"docket_number":"18-315","additional_docket_numbers":null,"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Cochise Consultancy, Inc. et al.","second_party":"United States, ex rel. Billy Joe Hunt","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1542348000],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/54418"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1552971600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/54454"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[1557723600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/54508"}],"lower_court":{"ID":15,"name":"United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/taxonomy\/term\/15"},"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EThe US Department of Defense awarded petitioner The Parsons Corporation a $60 million contract to perform munitions cleanup in Iraq. One component of the contract was that Parsons must provide adequate security to its employees who would be performing the cleanup. After seeking bids for a subcontract, a Parsons committee awarded it to ArmorGroup. Although petitioner Cochise Consultancy had submitted a bid, it did not win the subcontract. However, an Army Corps of Engineers contracting officer, Wayne Shaw, whom Cochise had allegedly bribed undertook elaborate efforts\u2014including forgery, deception, and threats\u2014to induce Parsons to award the subcontract to Cochise rather than to ArmorGroup. One employee in particular refused to award the subcontract to Cochise, believing that the award was made in violation of government regulations. That employee was replaced, and his replacement allowed the award of the subcontract to Cochise to move forward.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFrom February to September 2006, Cochise provided security services under the subcontract. Each month, the US government paid Cochise at least $1 million more than it would have paid ArmorGroup had ArmorGroup been awarded the subcontract, plus other expenses related to Cochise not being adequately equipped to perform the services required. In 2006, Shaw, who had orchestrated the fraudulent award of the subcontract to Cochise, rotated out of Iraq, and Parsons immediately reopened the subcontract for bidding and awarded it to ArmorGroup.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESeveral years later, in 2010, FBI agents interviewed Parsons employee Billy Joe Hunt about his role in a separate kickback scheme, and during that interview Hunt informed the agents about the contractors\u2019 fraudulent scheme involving the subcontract for security services. Hunt was charged with federal crimes related to the kickback scheme and served ten months in federal prison.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAfter he was released, in 2013, Hunt filed a \u003Cem\u003Equi tam\u003C\/em\u003E action under seal alleging that Parsons and Cochise had violated the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. \u00a7\u00a7 3729\u201333, by submitting to the United States false or fraudulent claims for payment. The United States declined to intervene in the action, and Hunt\u2019s complaint was unsealed. The contractors moved to dismiss, arguing that Hunt\u2019s claim was barred by the statute of limitations in 31 U.S.C. \u00a7 3731(b)(1), which requires a civil action alleging an FCA violation to be brought within the later of (1) \u201c6 years after the date on which the violation \u2026 is committed\u201d or (2) \u201c3 years after the date when facts material to the right of action\u00a0are known or reasonably should have been known by the\u00a0official of the United States charged with responsibility to act in\u00a0the circumstances\u2026.\u201d The district court granted the contractors\u2019 motion to dismiss, finding that under either provision, Hunt\u2019s claim would be time-barred. Reviewing the district court\u2019s dismissal \u003Cem\u003Ede novo\u003C\/em\u003E, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed and remanded. The Eleventh Circuit held that when Hunt (the relator) learned of the fraud is immaterial for statute of limitation purposes, and thus the period began to run when government officials learned of the facts giving rise to the claim.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EMay a relator in a False Claims Act \u003Cem\u003Equi tam\u003C\/em\u003E action rely on the statute of limitations in 31 U.S.C. \u00a7 3731(b)(2) in a suit in which the United States has declined to intervene, and, if so, does the relator constitute an \u201cofficial of the United States\u201d for purposes of that section?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003EA relator in a False Claims Act qui tam action may rely on the statute of limitations in 31 U.S.C. \u00a7 3731(b)(2) in a suit in which the United States has declined to intervene, but the relator does not constitute an \u201cofficial of the United States\u201d for purposes of that section. Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESection 3731(b) establishes two limitations periods that apply to \u201ccivil action[s] under section 3730,\u201d and both government-initiated suits and relator-initiated suits are \u201ccivil action[s] under section 3730.\u201d Thus, the plain text of the statute imposes both limitations periods on both types of actions. To interpret the statute otherwise would violate the principle that \u201ca single use of a statutory phrase must have a fixed meaning.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHaving resolved the first question, the Court then turned to whether the relator constitutes an \u201cofficial of the United States\u201d in this circumstance, finding that he does not. The relator is a private party, neither appointed as an officer nor employed by the United States, and nothing in the statute suggests an expansive interpretation of \u201cthe official\u201d that would include such a private party.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","advocates":[{"advocate":{"ID":42418,"name":"Theodore J. Boutrous Jr.","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/people\/theodore_j_boutrous_jr","view_count":0,"last_name":"Boutrous","roles":null,"thumbnail":null,"length_of_service":0,"identifier":"theodore_j_boutrous_jr"},"advocate_description":"for the petitioners","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_advocate\/case_advocate\/22668"},{"advocate":{"ID":63109,"name":"Earl N. 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