Jul 72025

Department of Justice Announces 2025 Inflationary Adjustments to FCA Penalties

Scott D. Stein and Catherine Stewart

The Department of Justice has published the inflationary adjustments to the civil monetary penalties associated with False Claims Act violations. Under the Balanced Budget Act of 2015, annual inflationary adjustments of the penalties is required. Adjustments are to be based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index.  For any False Claims Act violations that occurred after November 2, 2015, but for which penalties are assessed after July 3, 2025, the adjusted penalties will be applied. The minimum False Claims Act penalty now increases from $13,946 to $14,308 per claim, and the maximum penalty increases from $27,894 to $28,619 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

catherine.stewart@sidley.com

You might also like
Another District Court Finds FCA Civil Penalties Unconstitutionally Excessive

Last year, we reported on a rare district court decision from Minnesota finding application of the FCA’s civil penalties unconstitutionally excessive.  Last week, a judge in the Northern District of Texas determined that even the minimum amount in FCA penalties, as applied, would have violated the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Fines Clause.  Based on the number of false claims for which the jury found the defendant liable, the minimum penalty mandated by the statute was nearly $300 million—around one hundred times the actual damages.  The court instead imposed a reduced penalty of roughly $8 million, about three times the actual single damages, equating to a per-claim civil penalty of approximately $378.18.

2025 Inflationary Adjustments to FCA Penalties Announced

The Department of Commerce has published the 2025 inflationary adjustments to civil monetary penalties (“CMP”) associated with False Claims Act (“FCA”) violations (see here). The adjusted penalties will go into effect January 15, 2025 and will be assessed for violations that occurred prior to the adjustment, but that are assessed after January 15, 2025.  The minimum False Claims Act penalty will increase from $13,946 to $14,308 per claim and the maximum penalty will increase from $27,894 to $28,619 per claim.

DOJ Announces 2024 Inflationary Adjustments to FCA Penalties

The Department of Justice has published the inflationary adjustments to the civil monetary penalties associated with False Claims Act violations that will go into effect on February 12, 2024. The new penalties will align with the penalties announced by the Department of Commerce last month (discussed here). For any violations that occurred after November 2, 2015, but that are assessed after February 12, 2024, the adjusted penalties will be applied. The minimum False Claims Act penalty will increase from $13,508 to $13,946 per claim, and the maximum penalty will increase from $27,018 to $27,894 per claim.