Dec 152021

DOJ Announces Increased Inflation-Adjusted False Claims Act Penalties

Scott D. Stein and Catherine Stewart
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The 2015 Balanced Budget Act (BBA) requires that federal agencies make inflationary adjustments to civil monetary penalties on a yearly basis to account for inflation using calculations based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. In recent years, these increases have occurred less frequently. But on December 13, 2021 the Department of Justice published a final rule that increases the civil penalties in False Claims Act actions for violations that that occurred after November 2, 2015, the date the BBA was enacted. The revised penalties will be assessed for violations that occurred prior to the adjustment, but are assessed after December 13, 2021. Prior to this increase, the most recent inflationary adjustment had occurred in June 2020 (see here). As of December 13, 2021, the minimum False Claims Act penalty of $11,665 has increased to $11,803 per claim. The maximum penalty has increased from $23,331 to $23,607 per claim.

This post is as of the posting date stated above. Sidley Austin LLP assumes no duty to update this post or post about any subsequent developments having a bearing on this post.

Scott D. Stein

Chicago

sstein@sidley.com

Catherine Stewart

Chicago

cstewart@sidley.com

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