United States ex rel. Kinney v. Stoltz,
No. Civ.01-1287(RHK/JMM) (D. Minn. Apr. 5, 2002)
A
paramedic brought a qui tam action against four individual hospital employees
after his suit against the hospital and a group of physicians that staffed the
emergency room was dismissed. The employees moved to dismiss, claiming lack
of subject matter jurisdiction based upon the "public disclosure"provision
in the False Claims Act. The United States District Court, District of Minnesota,
ruled that, in order to have subject matter jurisdiction over a qui tam action,
the claim cannot be based on "public disclosure" unless it is brought
by an original source. The court ruled that the paramedic's claims were based
on public disclosure since the essential allegations of fraud were based on
documents filed in connection with his previous qui tam action. The court also
ruled that the paramedic was not an original source since he had no direct and
independent knowledge of the information on which his allegations were based,
and he voluntarily provided the information to the government prior to filing
the action.