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.