HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY v. UNITED STATES, ex rel. WILLIAM J. SCHUMER (520 U.S. 939)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 16, 1997 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 520 U.S. 939 · 117 S. Ct. 1871
- Decided
- June 16, 1997
- Term
- October Term 1996
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. The qui tarn provision of the False Claims Act (FCA or Act), 31 U. S. C. § 3730(b), permits, in certain circumstances, suits by private parties on behalf of the United States against anyone submitting a false claim to the Government. Prior to 1986, such suits were barred if the information on which they were based was already in the Government’s possession. At issue in this case is whether a 1986 amendment to the FCA partially removing that bar applies retroactively to qui tarn suits regarding allegedly false claims submitted prior to its enactment and, if so, whether this particular action meets the requirements of the amended Act. We hold that the 1986 amendment does not apply to this action and therefore that this action should have been dismissed, as required by the 1982 version of the Act. I In December 1981, the Northrop Corporation awarded petitioner Hughes Aircraft Company a subcontract to design and develop a radar system for the B-2 bomber, which Northrop was then constructing under contract with the Air Force. Both Northrop’s subcontract with Hughes and the Air Force’s contract with Northrop were “cost-plus” contracts, which provided that the subcontractor and the contractor, respectively, were to be reimbursed for all costs properly incurred plus a reasonable profit. Several months after Hughes was awarded the B-2…
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