GRAHAM COUNTY SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT, et al. v. UNITED STATES ex rel. KAREN T. WILSON (559 U.S. 280)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 30, 2010 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 559 U.S. 280 · 130 S. Ct. 1396
- Decided
- March 30, 2010
- Term
- October Term 2009
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. Since its enactment during the Civil War, the False Claims Act, 31 U. S. C. §§ 3729-3733, has authorized both the Attorney General and private qui tam relators to recover from persons who make false or fraudulent claims for payment to the United States. The Act now contains a provision barring qui tam actions based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions in certain specified sources. § 3730(e)(4)(A). The question before us is whether the reference to “administrative” reports, audits, and investigations in that provision encompasses disclosures made in state and local sources as well as federal sources. We hold that it does. I In 1995 the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) entered into contracts with two counties in North Carolina authorizing them to perform, or to hire others to perform, cleanup and repair work in areas that had suffered extensive flooding. The Federal Government agreed to shoulder 75 percent of the contract costs. Respondent Karen T. Wilson was at that time an employee of the Graham County Soil and Conservation District, a special-purpose government body that had been delegated partial responsibility for coordinating and performing the remediation effort. Suspecting possible fraud in connection with this effort, Wilson voiced her concerns to local officials in the summer of…
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