Omlansky

*524 Relator Matthew Omlansky (plaintiff), by virtue of knowledge gleaned as a state employee involved with the Medi-Cal program, brought this qui tam action in the name of the State of California alleging that defendant Save Mart Supermarkets (Save Mart) had violated the False Claims Act ( Gov. Code, § 12650 et seq. ) in its billings to Medi-Cal for prescription and nonprescription medications, charging a higher price than cash customers paid in violation of 2009 statutory provisions capping Medi-Cal charges at a provider's usual and customary price (hereafter statutory cap). As the trial court succinctly encapsulated the gist of the alleged fraud upon Medi-Cal, Save Mart generally offered a lower price for medications to cash customers, and would also match a lower price that a competitor was offering (although it appears from an exhibit to the complaint that the latter applied only to *525 prescriptions), but did not apply these discounts from its list prices in the billings it submitted to Medi-Cal. The People declined to intervene.

The trial court sustained a demurrer to the original complaint because all of the *870 alleged violations occurred during a period when the 2009…