United States v. Chevron, U.S.A., Inc.

These are appeals from orders entered by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California dismissing for lack of subject matter jurisdiction two qui tam actions brought under the False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., by Harold R. Fine. Fine filed one action on behalf of the United States against Chevron, Bechtel, and Williams Brothers to recover damages and penalties for alleged fraud in the execution of contracts for the management and operation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Fine filed the second action on behalf of the United States against the University of California to recover damages and penalties for alleged fraud in the maintenance and operation of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Livermore National Laboratory. 821 F.Supp. 1356 . The information upon which Fine based his claims was discovered during his employment as an auditor for the United States Department of Energy, Office of Inspector General, Office of Audits. In separate rulings, the district court dismissed both actions on the grounds that Inspector General auditors are barred from bringing qui tam actions arising from Inspector General audits and/or the court…