Overview
Qui Tam Law Under Close Reading
False Claims Act Updates is a quarterly editorial series produced by Holdsworth & Inkwell that tracks federal and state False Claims Act developments. The publication covers the full FCA enforcement landscape: federal 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq. authority, the state FCA frameworks the firm engages across multiple jurisdictions, qui tam practice, and the procedural and substantive doctrines that shape FCA defense.
Editorial Scope
Topical coverage includes pleading specificity and the federal Rule 9(b) framework as applied to FCA claims, the public disclosure bar and its state-FCA variants, Escobar materiality and falsity standards, qui tam relator practice, pre-suit settlement frameworks, and the operational distinctions between broad state FCAs and Medicaid-only state FCAs. The publication addresses both defendant-side and relator-side dynamics where developments warrant.
Format and Cadence
Issues publish quarterly, with additional special issues when federal authority or major state-level developments warrant earlier coverage. Each issue is grounded in current case law and intended to give working FCA defense counsel and compliance officers a practical analytical view of where FCA enforcement is moving.
Issues
Every Edition to Date
Each issue stands on its own analysis, examined and prepared with the same rigor whether it is a routine quarterly update or a special issue prompted by a major development. Browse the installments below to catch up on the series or find a specific issue.
The Public Disclosure Bar After Recent Federal Authority
Federal and state FCA public disclosure bar doctrine after the 2010 amendments, with attention to original source exception, materiality interactions, and parallel state-level frameworks.
State FCA Frameworks Without a State FCA: Federal Enforcement in Pennsylvania and Similar Jurisdictions
Pennsylvania and a handful of other states operate without comprehensive state False Claims Acts. The single-track federal enforcement framework reshapes FCA defense practice in these jurisdictions.
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The Doctrine, Tracked as it Moves
False Claims Act doctrine rarely holds still. Escobar's materiality standard reads differently across circuits, and the public disclosure bar shifts with each state's variant. Pleading-specificity requirements narrow or widen by district, often faster than a single briefing session can track. Each issue examines what has actually changed in a given jurisdiction, not what a template FCA memo would assume. For counsel defending healthcare and government-contractor exposure, that is doctrine as courts are applying it now, not as it stood when the matter began.
Editors
The Judgment Behind Every Issue
Each issue of False Claims Act Updates carries the judgment of the editors listed below: which developments merit coverage, and what the underlying case law actually supports. That judgment shapes the analysis before a single issue goes to press.
Practice Areas
Where This Coverage Connects
This series draws on the firm's ongoing work in the areas below. Each issue tracks how the doctrine is actually developing, not how precedent assumes it should. Some issues sit within a single practice area; others span several, depending on where the analysis leads.
Sectors
Where These Issues Land
Legal doctrine plays out differently depending on the industry applying it. The sectors below mark where its coverage lands most directly, industry by industry rather than area of law.
Sector
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Complex litigation representation for hospital systems, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and life sciences clients.
Sector
Government Contractors
Litigation for federal and state contractors in False Claims Act matters, contract disputes, and parallel administrative proceedings.
Beyond this issue
Where to Go From Here
These developments touch healthcare compliance and government contracts practice as much as they touch FCA doctrine itself. If they raise questions specific to your organization, our False Claims Act Litigation team is glad to talk them through.