Miscellaneous

E.D.Va. Rejects $50 Million Civil Penalty in FCA Case as Unconstitutionally Excessive

Presently pending before the Court is the Plaintiffs' post-trial motion for an award of civil penalties under the False Claims Act with respect to the DPM claim. For the reasons stated herein, the Court concludes that the mandatory civil penalty of at least $50,248,000 constitutes an unconstitutionally excessive fine in violation of the Eighth Amendment and, having made that determination, further concludes that it does not have the discretion to fashion some other civil penalty that would be within constitutional limits; and therefore no civil penalty will be imposed.

Full post as published by Federal Civil Practice Bulletin on April 09, 2012 (boomark / email).