SCHINDLER ELEVATOR CORPORATION, PETITIONER v. UNITED STATES ex rel. DANIEL KIRK (563 U.S. 401)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided May 16, 2011 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 563 U.S. 401 · 131 S. Ct. 1885
- Decided
- May 16, 2011
- Term
- October Term 2010
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Privacy
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. The False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U. S. C. §§3729-3733, prohibits submitting false or fraudulent claims for payment to the United States, § 3729(a), and authorizes qui tam suits, in which private parties bring civil actions in the Government’s name, § 3730(b)(1). This case concerns the FCA’s public disclosure bar, which generally forecloses qui tam suits that are “based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions ... in a congressional, administrative, or Government Accounting Office report, hearing, audit, or investigation.” § 3730(e)(4)(A) (footnote omitted). We must decide whether a federal agency’s written response to a request for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U. S. C. §552, constitutes a “report” within the meaning of the public disclosure bar. We hold that it does. I Petitioner Schindler Elevator Corporation manufactures, installs, and services elevators and escalators. In 1989, Schindler acquired Millar Elevator Industries, Inc., and the two companies merged in 2002. Since 1999, Schindler and the United States have entered into hundreds of contracts that are subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1972 (VEVRAA). That Act requires contractors like Schindler to report certain information to the Secretary of Labor, in-eluding how many of its employees are…
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