United States v. Catholic Healthcare West

445 F.3d 1147 UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, and Patricia Haight, ex rel. and in Defense of Animals, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE WEST; Catholic Healthcare West Arizona; Michael Berens, Defendants-Appellees. No. 03-16937. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted September 13, 2005. Filed April 19, 2006. Jeremy L. Friedman, Law Office of Jeremy L. Friedman, Oakland, CA, for the appellants. Lawrence A. Kasten, Lewis and Roca LLP, Phoenix, AZ, for the appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona; Frederick J. Martone, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-01-02253-FJM. Before: B. FLETCHER, JOHN R. GIBSON, * and BERZON, Circuit Judges. B. FLETCHER, Circuit Judge: 1 Dr. Patricia Haight and the organization In Defense of Animals (collectively "Relators") appeal the dismissal of their complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the False Claims Act's "public disclosure" jurisdictional bar, 31 U.S.C. § 3730 (e)(4). We reverse. I. 2 Relators brought this qui tam action under the False Claims Act ("FCA"), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-33 , against Catholic Healthcare West and Dr. Michael…