On August 27, 2018, Dismas Locaria, Michael Francel, and Spencer Williams published "Unintended consequences: How Escobar may impact all contractors" in Westlaw Journal Government Contracts. Here is an excerpt:
As we continue to see civil enforcement under the False Claims Act produce eye-popping recoveries, and in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2016 decision in United Health Services Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, the FCA has never been of greater interest.
Given the Supreme Court's guidance in Escobar and its progeny to date, however, it is unclear whether fraud may be asserted by the government less frequently or we might begin to see a shift in the nature of the government's fraud claims.
Indeed, given the importance the Supreme Court and various courts since Escobar have placed on the government's decision to pay a contractor in a timely manner after learning of contractual noncompliance, might we begin to see the government slow its relatively timely payment practices in an effort to preserve FCA cases?