On June 1, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of whistleblower plaintiffs in consolidated False Claims Act cases in a decision that clarified the application of the FCA’s knowledge requirement. In United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc., the court held that the FCA reaches defendants who knew the claims they submitted were fraudulent, even if they subsequently offered an “objectively reasonable” interpretation of an ambiguous legal or contractual requirement material to the government’s payment decision. 

Read on for analysis of this case and implications for government contractors, healthcare providers and others accused of fraud.