United States v. American Production Industries, Inc.

58 F.3d 404 40 Cont.Cas.Fed. (CCH) P 76,790 UNITED STATES, ex rel., Plaintiff-Appellee, and Ara B. Papazian, and Nabil D. Hanna, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. AMERICAN PRODUCTION INDUSTRIES, INC., dba Paramount Citrus Association, fka Paramount Citrus Association; Mohammed Ali Karbalai; Elvin Wood, Defendants. No. 93-56672. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted May 1, 1995. Decided June 9, 1995. Hebert Hafif, Claremont, CA, and Phillip E. Benson, Newport Beach, CA, for plaintiffs-appellants. Douglas N. Letter and Phillip A. Shaikun, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for plaintiff-appellee. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California. Before: FLETCHER, BRUNETTI, and T.G. NELSON, Circuit Judges. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge: 1 Ara Papazian and Nabil Hanna ("relators") appeal from the district court's dismissal of their qui tam complaint brought pursuant to the False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. Sec. 3729 et seq. On appeal the relators argue that the district court erred by finding that it lacked jurisdiction over the suit because a settlement had previously been agreed to by the Department of Justice ("DoJ") and…