Kellogg Brown & Root v. United States ex rel. Carter
Issues
1) Does the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act—which tolls the statute of limitations for an offense that involves fraud against the United States during wartime—apply to civil fraud claims and require a formal declaration of war?
2) Once a party files a suit, does the False Claim Act bar all subsequent suits based on similar facts indefinitely or only while the initial suit is pending before a court?
Benjamin Carter brought an action under the False Claims Act (“FCA”), alleging that Kellogg Brown & Root (“KBR”) had misrepresented water purification work and falsified time sheets in order to overbill the United States government. In this case, the Supreme Court will have the opportunity to resolve whether the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act (“WSLA”) applies to civil suits brought under the FCA and whether the FCA bars all subsequent suits after a party files a suit based on the same underlying facts. KBR contends that the WSLA tolls the statute of limitations only for criminal suits and that the FCA bars every suit subsequent to the first suit filed on similar facts. Carter counters that the WSLA tolls both criminal and civil suits and that the FCA bars subsequent suits only when a similar suit is pending before a court. The Court’s ruling will affect whistleblowers as well as businesses and health care providers that supply services to the United States government.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
1) Whether the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act—a criminal code provision that tolls the statute of limitations for “any offense” involving fraud against the government “[w]hen the United States is at war,” 18 U.S.C. § 3287, and which this Court has instructed must be “narrowly construed” in favor of repose—applies to claims of civil fraud brought by private relators, and is triggered without a formal declaration of war, in a manner that leads to indefinite tolling.
2) Whether, contrary to the conclusion of numerous courts, the False Claims Act’s so called “first-to-file” bar, 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5)—which creates a race to the courthouse to reward relators who promptly disclose fraud against the government, while prohibiting repetitive, parasitic claims—functions as a “one-case-at-a-time” rule allowing an infinite series of duplicative claims so long as no prior claim is pending at the time of filing.
Kellogg Brown & Root (“KBR”) had a government contract to supply logistical services to the United States military in Iraq. See U.S. ex rel. Carter v. Halliburton Co., 710 F.3d 171, 174 (4th Cir. 2013). For about three months in 2005, Benjamin Carter worked for KBR as an operator of a water purification unit.
Edited by
Additional Resources
- Amy Howe: Solicitor General files invitation briefs – Part 2, SCOTUS Blog (June 13, 2014).
- Barbara Leonard: Halliburton Overbilling Case Faces Review by High Court, Courthouse News Service (July 1, 2014)
- Greg Stohr: KBR, Halliburton Get Court Review in Iraq Billing Case, Bloomberg (July 1, 2014).