On October 27, 2010, Judge O’Connor held in United States ex rel. DeKort v. Integrated Coast Guard Systems that one of the claims in Michael DeKort’s qui tam False Claims Act lawsuit against Lockheed Martin, Integrated Coast Guard Systems, and Northrop Grumman failed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction (pdf copy of decision here).
The case relates to the Coast Guard’s expenditure of over $96 million to retrofit eight patrol boats. The boats are presently useless after being decommissioned by the Coast Guard. “Relator Michael J. DeKort alleges that Northrop Grumman violated the FCA by fraudulently certifying that the boats would meet the Coast Guard’s performance specifications while knowingly or recklessly disregarding various design defects that later resulted in severe hull buckling and shaft misalignments[.]” Northrop Grumman denied the allegations and further asserted that the False Claims Act’s “public disclosure bar,” found in 31 U.S.C. § 3730(e)(4), deprived the Court of subject matter jurisdiction over DeKort’s claim that Northrop Grumman knew that the designs of the boats were defective but built them anyway and delivered them to the Coast Guard.
Judge O’Connor agreed, finding that DeKort’s design defect claim was disclosed in Congressional hearings in 2007, and that he was not the original source of this information (i.e., he did not have direct and independent knowledge of this information and he had not voluntarily provided the information to the government before filing suit). Accordingly, Judge O’Connor dismissed this claim pursuant to § 3730(e)(4).
Relator DeKort is represented by Samuel Boyd and Catherine Jobe, both of Boyd & Associates; and James Helmer, Jr., Julie Popham, Robert Rice, and Erin Campbell, all of Helmer Martins Rice & Popham Co. L.P.A.
Northrop Grumman is represented by David McAtee, II, Christopher Rogers, and Sarah Teachout, of Haynes & Boone LLP; and Allen Cannon, III, Angela Martinez, David Taylor, Donald Carney, Jeffrey Eisenstein, Maggie Greenlee, Richard Clifford, Jr., Suzette Derrevere, Thomas Boeder, and W. Hartmann Young, all of Perkins Coie LLP.
Lockheed Martin Corp. is represented by Daniel Chudd, Edward Jackson, Jennifer Dlugosz, Michael Khoo, Sarah Maguire, and W. Jay DeVecchio, all of Jenner & Block LLP.
Integrated Coast Guard Systems is represented by Kaylee Higginbotham and William Whitehill, both of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP; and Craig Guthery, Gregory Smith, Hans Chen, John Henault, and Robert Vieth, all of Cooley LLP.