Sufficiency of Evidence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: George Bellevue v. Universal Health Services of Hartgrove, Inc.

Case No.: 15-3473

Officials: BAUER, EASTERBROOK, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges

Focus:  Sufficiency of Evidence

Relator and plaintiff‐appellant George Bellevue filed a qui tam action under the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., and its Illinois analog, the Illinois False Claims Act (IFCA), 740 Ill. Comp. Stat. 175/1 et seq., on behalf of the United States and the State of Illinois against defendant‐appellee Universal Health Services of Hartgrove, Incorporated (“Hartgrove”). Bellevue argues that Hartgrove violated the FCA under a number of theories, including false certification and fraudulent inducement. The district court granted Hartgrove’s motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim of fraud with particularity as required by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 9(b).

In that case, we found that because the plaintiff’s allegations were “substantially similar to” the publicly disclosed allegations, the plaintiff did not “materially add” to the public disclosure and could not be an original source. 815 F.3d at 283 (citation omitted). This conclusion applies with equal force here, and Bellevue has not provided a reason to diverge from it. Thus, we find that Bellevue is not an original source of the allegations, and his FCA and IFCA claims are precluded by the public‐disclosure bar. The allegations in this case fall within the public‐disclosure bar to the FCA, and, therefore, the district court properly dismissed the amended complaint with prejudice. The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.