A-1 Ambulance Service, Inc. v. California

A-l Ambulance Service, Inc. (“A-l”) appeals the district court’s dismissal of its qui tam action against the County of San Mateo, the County of Monterey, and two private ambulance companies for alleged violations of the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733 . The district court dismissed A-l’s action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the “public disclosure bar” of 31 U.S.C. § 3730 (e)(4)(A) because A-l’s action was based upon information publicly disclosed in local government administrative hearings. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

I

A-l was an unsuccessful bidder for public contracts to provide exclusive ambulance services within certain California counties, including San Mateo and Monte-rey Counties (the “Counties”). Med-Trans and Peninsula Paramedic Services, Inc. (“Pen-Med”) are the two private ambulance service providers that were awarded those exclusive contracts in San Mateo and Monterey Counties respectively. In its qui tam action, A-l essentially alleges that the Counties, together with Med-Trans and Pen-Med, conspired to shift some of the costs of emergency ambulance services from the Counties to Medicare in violation of the…