The Government's Duty to Preserve in False Claims Act Litigation

Abstract:     
Must the government preserve electronically stored information (ESI) during the time it considers intervening in a False Claims Act case? Until recently, this issue has remained unresolved. But at the end of August, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico ruled that the government does indeed have a pre-intervention obligation to preserve ESI. In United States ex rel. Baker v. Community Health Systems, Inc., the court imposed spoliation sanctions on the government because its litigation holds were both untimely and inadequate. This article, prepared for an AHLA newsletter, is a brief summary of the holding and implications of this significant case.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 2

Keywords: electronically stored information, ESI, False Claims Act, Baker v. Community Health Systems, spoliation sanction, AHLA, discovery, litigation hold, healthcare fraud

JEL Classification: K32, L86

Accepted Paper Series