On April 11, 2018, the Eleventh Circuit split from several other circuits on the question whether False Claims Act (FCA) relators can rely on the three-year statute of limitations extension in 31 U.S.C. § 3731(b)(2) in cases where the United States declines to intervene.

Under § 3731(b), an FCA case must be filed within the later of:

1. 6 years after the date on which the violation…is committed, or
2. 3 years after the date when facts material to the right of action are known or reasonably should have been known by the official of the United States charged with responsibility to act in the circumstances, but in no event more than 10 years after the date on which the violation is committed.

In United States of America, ex rel. Billy Joe Hunt v. Cochise Consultancy Inc. et al., No. 16-12836, the relator filed his claim more than six years after the alleged violations, but within three years of when he first informed the government of the facts giving rise to the claim. (He may have been delayed in filing his claim owing to the fact he was in federal prison for his role in a separate kickback scheme involving the same company.) Thus, the case turned on whether the three-year extension in § 3731(b)(2) applies to cases where the government has declined to intervene.

The district court’s answer was ‘no.’ It dismissed the case based on the statute of limitations. This approach was consistent with published decisions from the Fourth Circuit and Tenth Circuit—both of which emphasized that applying § 3731(b)(2) to cases where the Government did not intervene could lead to “bizarre scenarios” in which the statute of limitations period for a relator’s claim is dependent on a nonparty to the action. See United States ex rel. Sanders v. N. Am. Bus Indus., Inc., 546 F. 3d 288, 293 (4th Cir. 2008) and United States ex rel. Sikkenga v. Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah, 472 F.3d 702, 726 (10th Cir. 2006) (“Surely, Congress could not have intended to base a statute of limitations on the knowledge of a non-party.”).

But, reviewing the district court’s decision on appeal, the Eleventh Circuit split from its sister circuits and reversed the decision below, resurrecting the relator’s claims. The court asserted that the Fourth Circuit and Tenth Circuit erred because they “reflexively applied the general rule that a limitations period is triggered by knowledge of a party. They failed to consider the unique role that the United States plays even in a non-intervened qui tam case.”

Instead, the court adopted a textual analysis, concluding that nothing in § 3731(b) suggests that the three-year extension applies only to intervened cases. Likewise, it rejected the defendants’ arguments that applying § 3731(b)(2) to non-intervened cases would render § 3731(b)(1) superfluous, and would encourage relators to wait to bring a secreted fraud to the government’s attention. The court emphasized that under its reading, § 3731(b)(1) would not be redundant in all circumstances, and that despite the three-year extension in paragraph [...]

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