United States ex rel. Foundation Aiding Elderly v. Horizon West Inc.

.1.

Appellants filed this qui tam action alleging that Appellees defrauded the United States by receiving payments from Medicare and Medicaid for care which was not given. The district court dismissed the action because it held that 31 U.S.C. § 3730 (e)(4)(A)’s public disclosure bar deprived it of jurisdiction. We have jurisdiction over this appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . 1 We review the district court’s findings of fact relevant to its determination of subject matter jurisdiction for clear error. See United States ex rel. Biddle v. Bd. of Trs. of Leland Stanford, Jr. Univ., 161 F.3d 533 (9th Cir.1998). Whether a particular disclosure triggers the jurisdictional bar of § 3730(e)(4)(A), however, is a mixed question of law and fact that we review de novo. See United States ex rel. Lindenthal v. Gen. Dynamics Corp., 61 F.3d 1402 , 1409 n. 9 (9th Cir.1995).

II.

The False Claims Act (“FCA”) deprives a district court of jurisdiction over any qui tam action that is based on allegations or transactions already disclosed in certain public fora, unless the relator is the original source of the infor *1014 mation underlying the action. A-1 Ambulance Serv., Inc. v. California, 202…