Yesterday, Lex Machina released its 2021 False Claims Act Litigation Report. The report outlines false claims act litigation trends and includes insights in federal district court from 2016 through 2020. The report presents data collected in the Lex Machina Legal Analytics platform, which uses machine learning and attorney review to extract data from PACER which is then cleaned, tagged, structured, and loaded into the platform.
Findings
According to the report, the number of False Claims Act filings has been on a steady downward trend since 2014 before falling sharply in 2017. However, there are backdated False Claims Act cases that remain sealed and as they become unsealed in the coming months and years, filing numbers for recent years will increase.
The report noted that due to the requirement that False Claims Act cases plead with particularity under Rule 9(b), a large proportion of cases resolved with a judgment on the pleadings as plaintiffs do not always meet that requirement.
Additionally, False Claims Act cases had a large number of findings on consent, as defendants tend to agree to consent judgments in cases where the government is either a filing or intervening plaintiff.
Courts Involved
The report also noted that from 2016 to 2020, the districts with the most cases filed were the Middle District of Florida (191 cases), the Central District of California (116 cases), and the Northern District of California (87 cases). As one might expect, judges from the Middle District of Florida held eight spots (out of 19) on the most active judges list.
Parties Involved
There were two companies tied as “most active defendants by cases”: McKesson Corporation and Johnson & Johnson, each with 36 cases. Morgan Lewis & Bockius (29 cases), Bradley Arant Boult Cummings (24 cases), and Reed Smith (24 cases) were the three most active law firms representing defendants.
Phillips & Cohen (38 cases), Brown LLC (37 cases), and Mahany Law (34 cases) were the most active law firms representing plaintiffs. When it came to government Plaintiff’s counsel, the Department of Justice was involved in 1,452 cases, with the States of California (52 cases), Georgia (36 cases), Florida (35 cases), and Texas (34 cases) the most active state governments.
For most active plaintiffs, the United States of America filed 1,624 cases in 92 districts. The most active state government plaintiffs were: California (167 cases in 31 districts), Florida (144 cases in 31 districts), and Texas (140 cases in 32 districts).
Copy of the Report
For a copy of the report, click here.
False Claims Act Litigation Report Webcast
Lex Machina hosted a webcast yesterday to discuss the report with Brenna Jenny (Partner at Sidley Austin), Laurence Freedman (Member at Mintz), and Ellen Chen (author of the report and Legal Data Expert at Lex Machina). Neil Magenheim (Director of Client Relations at Lex Machina) moderated the conversation. A recording of the webcast can be found here.