US Waives Right to Respond to SCOTUS Petition in FCA Case on Sanctions Violations

The U.S. waived its right to file a response to a U.S. Supreme Court petition in a False Claims Act case brought by whistleblower Brutus Trading. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in the government's waiver, filed Feb. 2, that it won't respond to the petition "unless requested to do so by the Court" (Brutus Trading v. Standard Chartered, Sup. Ct. # 23-813).

Brutus petitioned the high court to take up its case so the court can clear up its own 2023 ruling that the U.S. can voluntarily dismiss a qui tam FCA case after not initially intervening in the action, and that the dismissal would be carried out under Rule 41(a) (see 2401310078). Brutus argued that the dismissal process under Rule 41(a), under which the court has no "adjudicatory role," clashes with the statutory requirement under the FCA to give the whistleblower an opportunity for a hearing.

The whistleblower's FCA case stems from the company's efforts to tell the government of alleged violations by Standard Chartered Bank and its affiliates of U.S. sanctions on Iran.