US ex rel. Lemmon v. Envirocare of Utah, Inc., No. 09-4079
US ex rel. Lemmon v. Envirocare of Utah, Inc., No. 09-4079, involved a False Claims Act action against a government contractor by one of its former employees alleging improper hazardous-and-radioactive-waste-disposal. The court reversed the dismissal of the complaint, holding that 1) implied false certification claims did not involve -- let alone require -- an explicit certification of regulatory compliance; and 2) to sustain their express certification claims, plaintiffs needed only to have alleged, with sufficient factual basis, that the requests contained a false statement and that the statement was material to the government's decision to pay.
As the court wrote: "Plaintiff-Appellant Jolene Lemmon appeals from the district court's dismissal with prejudice of her complaint alleging false claims against the government. See Aplt. App. 705. The district court dismissed under Rules 8(a), 9(b) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. She contends that the district court overlooked her implied-certification (of false claims) theory and erred in rejecting her express-certification theory. Our jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we reverse."
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