Schmuckley

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 United States of America et al., ex rel. Loyd F. No. 2:12-cv-01699-KJM-EFB Schmuckley, Jr., ORDER Plaintiffs, 13 v. 14 Rite Aid Corporation, Defendant. 17 State of California ex rel. Loyd F. Schmuckley, 18 Jr., 19 Plaintiff, 20 v. 21 Rite Aid Corporation, 22 Defendant. 23 24 The plaintiffs in this false claims action against Rite Aid move for leave to add new claims and allegations to their complaints. Mot., ECF No. 315. Rite Aid opposes the motion, which is fully briefed. See Opp’n, ECF No. 318, Reply, ECF No. 322. The court held a videoconference hearing on October 16, 2020. Jennifer Bartlett, W. Paul Lawrence, and Brian Barrow appeared for the relator plaintiff; Emmanuel Salazar and Bernice Yew appeared for California, which has intervened as a plaintiff; and Benjamin Smith appeared for Rite Aid. For the reasons explained in this order, the motion is granted. I. BACKGROUND The court has summarized the background of this litigation in its…