June 01, 2023
Statement of Stephen Hasegawa, partner at whistleblower law firm Phillips and Cohen:
“There are probably a lot of disappointed defense lawyers today. SuperValu stands for the common-sense proposition that the False Claims Act’s knowledge standard depends upon a defendant’s actual mental state, and not upon how creative the defendant’s lawyer can be after the fact. It’s also an important signal from a unanimous Supreme Court that lower courts should just apply the False Claims Act as written and not look for ways to narrow it.”