“Safeco ensures due process by not penalizing government contractors for innocent mistakes or mere negligence. It does so while accomplishing Congress’s goal of ensuring that companies do not bury their heads in the sand when submitting claims for reimbursement.”
 —John Masslon, WLF Senior Litigation Counsel

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit protected defendants’ due-process rights in False Claims Act cases. The en banc court affirmed the District Court’s applying the test for willfulness announced by the Supreme Court in Safeco. This decision was a victory for Washington Legal Foundation (WLF), which filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Court to apply Safeco.

As WLF’s brief showed, applying the Safeco standard is necessary to protect defendants’ due-process rights. Because FCA violations carry both punitive civil sanctions and criminal penalties, even civil defendants are entitled to heightened due-process protections. At the core of these protections is the right to fair notice of prohibited conduct. The brief explained that Safeco ensures due process by not penalizing government contractors for innocent mistakes or mere negligence. It does so while accomplishing Congress’s goal of ensuring that companies do not bury their heads in the sand when submitting claims for reimbursement. WLF is pleased to have another court of appeals reject the plaintiffs’ bar’s attempts at avoiding the Supreme Court’s Safeco decision.