United States v. Kitsap Physicians Service

It seems to be a fairly obvious notion that a False Claims Act suit ought to require a false claim. Yet, the plaintiff-appellant in this case filed his action, proceeded to summary judgment, and prosecuted this appeal without ever seeing or presenting to a court a single false claim submitted by the defendants-appellees. This flaw is fatal to a qui tam 1 action under the False Claims Act.

Dr. Alfred Aflatooni appeals the summary judgment dismissal of his False Claims Act lawsuit brought against two physician groups and three doctors. The district court dismissed Aflatooni’s action because he failed to produce a single false claim submitted by the defendants. Afla-tooni contends that (1) the district court should have given him more time pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(f) to gather evidence because the defendants engaged in spoliation of the allegedly false documents and (2) the district court erred in entering summary judgment because Aflatooni demonstrated by implication that the defendants must have submitted false medical bills to the government.

The district court did not err by refusing to grant more time under Rule 56(f) where Aflatooni failed to…