Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer, 520 U.S. 939, 6 (1997)

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944

HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO. v. UNITED STATES ex rel. SCHUMER Opinion of the Court

the qui tam provision in effect when Hughes engaged in its allegedly wrongful conduct precluded qui tam suits based on information already possessed by the Government. See 31 U. S. C. § 3730(b)(4) (1982 ed.). Hughes argued in the alternative that the suit was barred even under the 1986 version of the Act because it was "based upon the public disclosure of allegations . . . in a[n] . . . administrative . . . audit," within the meaning of 31 U. S. C. § 3730(e)(4)(A).3 The District Court denied Hughes' motion.

Hughes then moved for summary judgment on the merits, contending that it had fully disclosed the basis of its cost accounting system to all of its customers and had complied with all applicable contractual and regulatory requirements relating to cost allocation. After full briefing, the District Court concluded that Hughes had allocated some costs between the F-15 and B-2 programs consistent with disclosures Hughes made to Northrop, App. to Pet. for Cert. 46a, had allocated other costs to the fixed-price F-15 contract that could have been charged to the cost-plus B-2 contract alone (thereby benefiting the Government), id., at 50a, and had properly disclosed the contents of the commonality agreements to Northrop and the Air Force, id., at 46a-48a, 56a. Accordingly, the District Court held that "Schumer has not shown that Hughes violated the False Claims Act." Id., at 64a.

Schumer appealed from the grant of summary judgment against him, and Hughes cross-appealed from the denial of its motion to dismiss. The Ninth Circuit rejected Hughes' cross-appeal, holding that the 1986 amendment removing certain defenses to qui tam suits should be applied retroactively to suits based on pre-1986 conduct because the amendment involved only the "subject matter jurisdiction" of

3 Hughes also raised several constitutional challenges to the qui tam provisions of the Act that are not presently before us. See 519 U. S. 926 (1996) (limiting grant of certiorari to the nonconstitutional questions presented by the petition).

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