In an unusual ruling on August 18, 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the Middle District of Tennessee’s denial of the defendant’s motion for attorneys’ fees, and remanded the case for an award of legal fees and expenses related to defending against the government’s “excessive” damages demand, as well as fees incurred during the appeal and remand process.  The case is United States ex rel. Wall v. Circle C Construction, LLC, and as we have previously reported, last year the government suffered a major loss when the Sixth Circuit dramatically reduced the damage award in this False Claims Act (FCA) litigation by over 95 percent (from $762,894.54 to $14,748), which resulted in damages of less than 1 percent of the $1.66 million originally claimed by the government.  At the time, the Sixth Circuit called the government’s so-called “tainted goods” damage calculation “fairyland rather than actual.” (more…)