On September 18, 2017, the Tenth Circuit reversed a decision of the US District Court for the District of Utah in United States ex rel. Little v. Triumph Gear Sys., Inc. In doing so, the Tenth Circuit concluded that the False Claims Act’s first-to-file bar extends to situations where relators’ counsel substitute parties prior to the initial complaint even being unsealed.

In this case, relator Joe Blyn brought a qui tam action against a government contractor, alleging that he witnessed instances of fraud. The initial complaint named Blyn and three John Does as relators. The following year, Blyn and the John Does “vanished” from the action with Blyn’s counsel, David Little, instead naming himself, and Kurosh Motaghed as the sole relators.  After the court unsealed the action, Triumph moved to dismiss the amended complaint, arguing that the substitution of parties triggered the “first-to-file” bar, which prevents private parties from intervening in existing actions or filing related actions based on the facts of the underlying action. The district court denied Triumph’s motion to dismiss, ruling that replacing the relator in this manner did not contemplate an “intervention” for purposes of 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5).

The Tenth Circuit reversed. The court noted that had Little merely added himself and Motgahed as relators and maintained Blyn as a third relator, such an addition would have merely been an amendment permissible under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15, which would not have triggered the first-to-file bar.  As it happened, however, Blyn did not amend the complaint – Little and Motaghed did.  And because amendments under Rule 15 may only be made by parties, the Tenth Circuit concluded that Little’s and Motaghed’s actions constituted an “intervention.”

Once Blyn was removed from the complaint, the court determined, the district court lacked jurisdiction over the case. Consequently, Little’s subsequent reinstatement of Blyn as a relator was ineffective. This case thus demonstrates the power and breadth of the first-to-file bar, and how defendants can use it effectively to address follow-on complaints.