Ninth Circuit Holds that Indian Tribes are not “Persons” subject to FCA

In a brief unpublished memorandum opinion released on June 15, 2015, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s dismissal of an FCA claim brought against a tribe, holding that tribes do not fit within the FCA’s definition of “persons.”  See Thomas Howard and Robert Weldy, ex rel. United States v. Shoshone Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, No. 13-16118 (9th Cir. June 15, 2015).  Whistleblowers Howard and Berg, former tribal employees, alleged that the tribes...