United States Ex Rel. Mosler v. City of Los Angeles

MEMORANDUM

Relator Stanley Mosler, suing on behalf of the United States, appeals the district court’s dismissal of his qui tam action. On de novo review, United States ex rel. Aflatooni v. Kitsap Physicians Servs., 163 F.3d 516 , 520 (9th Cir.1999), we affirm.

Under the False Claims Act, a court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over any qui tam action “based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing”; in various kinds of governmental or administrative reports, hearings, or investigations; or in “the news media”; unless the relator is the “original source” of the publicly disclosed information. 31 U.S.C. § 3730 (e)(4) (2002). The California analogue is nearly identical. Cal. Gov’t Code § 12652(d)(3). For that reason, California courts look to federal decisions to interpret the public disclosure provision of the state statute. State ex rel. Bowen v. Bank of Am. Corp., 126 Cal.App.4th 225 , 23 Cal. Rptr.3d 746 , 758 n. 11 (2005).

The allegations underlying Relator’s complaint were publicly disclosed before he filed suit in 2002, in two ways. First, Relator’s written testimony, submitted during a 2001 public hearing…