State of California ex rel. Bartlett v. Miller

Plaintiff filed a qui tam suit on behalf of himself and the State under the California False Claims Act (CFCA), Gov. Code, 12650 et seq., alleging that ClubCorp had defrauded the State by failing to escheat the unclaimed initiation deposits of ClubCorp’s members and former members. The trial court granted the State's motion to dismiss, concluding that plaintiff's qui tam action was based on business practices ClubCorp had previously disclosed in publicly available filings with the SEC and thus precluded by CFCA's public disclosure bar. The court concluded that the trial court erred in dismissing the qui tam complaint as barred by the public disclosure provision in former subdivision (d)(3)(A) where an SEC filing is not one of the disclosures identified in that subdivision as barring a qui tam action. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded for further proceedings. View "State of California ex rel. Bartlett v. Miller" on Justia Law