In breaking news, today the Supreme Court of the United States announced its opinion in Schindler Elevator Corp. v. US.  The case concerns whether a FOIA request is a "report" as contemplated by the old public disclosure bar contained at 31 U.S.C. 3730(e)(4)(A).   

I haven't had a chance to study the opinion closely, but it appears to say that under some circumstances FOIA requests would trigger the public disclosure bar and under others the FOIA request would not.  The best bet, of course, under the old statute, was to steer way clear of anything remotely resembling a FOIA request. 

I say under the old statute, because the 2009 amendments to the FCA changed totally the public disclosure bar and how that bar relates to FOIA requests.  The Schindler Elevator case, however, was under the old statute, i.e., the pre-2009 version. 

I think the new public disclosure bar as it pertains to FOIA requests really strikes a happy medium.  After the 2009 FCA amendments, any allegations totally based on a FOIA request (or on otherwise publicly disclosed information) are barred. But, allegations in a qui tam suit based in part on non-public information and in part on public information are allowed.  

Perhaps most important, the issue is put in the hands of the DOJ to determine whether and to what extent a qui tam relator contributed something new with his or her non-public information.  

And best of all, our Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act will match the federal FCA after July 1, 2011.