United States v. Catholic Healthcare West

Dr. Patricia Haight and the organization In Defense of Animals (collectively “Relators”) appeal the dismissal of their complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the False Claims Act’s “public disclosure” jurisdictional bar, 31 U.S.C. § 3730 (e)(4). We reverse.

I.

Relators brought this qui tam action under the False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-33 , against Catholic Healthcare West and Dr. Michael Berens (collectively “Defendants”). The Relators allege that Berens submitted a fraudulent grant application to the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”). Based on this application, he was awarded over $700,000 in grant money.

Defendant Berens is a research scientist at Barrow Neurological Institute, a division of Catholic Healthcare West. Berens is the primary researcher on a project that uses beagle dogs to research glioma, a form of malignant brain tumor. The study is designed to develop a large animal model for studying glioma and then extrapolate any knowledge gained to treat glioma in humans. Berens attempted to develop the model by injecting glioma tumor cells into the flanks of gestating beagle puppies. This procedure had to be done during gestation to…