The Supreme Court was established by Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution by the Judiciary Act of
1789 passed by Congress and signed by President George Washington September 24, 1789. This was 74
years before Congress passed the False Claims Act.
And until recently there were few Supreme Court rulings on the False Claims Act, while District
Court Judges ruled differently on dismissing cases. So, qui tam and defendant counsels could argue
as they did in my case about issues like “Original Source” “government knowledge” of fraud, and
“First to File”; not on the merits of cases kept under seal for 10 years, to use the Statutes of
Limitations said to be 2 to 6 years to escape court trials.
In my case, on November 23, 2013 both my 10 relator attorneys and Pfizer defense attorneys argued
that I wasn’t “first to file” saying a man with my name, living at my address, with my family was
“first to file” in May 1998, 16 years before in Tampa Federal Court, claiming the exact same fraud.
All then ten attorneys demanded I dismiss my case with prejudice!
As this went on, in Benjamin Carter v Halliburton a defense department case was being heard by the
4th District Appeals Court, across Main Street in Richmond, VA, where the District Court a few
years earlier had ruled no False Claims Act cases were kept under seal for over 2 years, while I
sat 12 miles away my case under seal then for 7 years! The Forth District Appeals Court then
overruled the lower court in Carters Favor, and Halliburton asked the Supreme Court to rule on two
facets of the case: whether the Wars Statutes Of Limitations WSOL applied, and the one that
interested me, the “first to file”.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Halliburton on the WSLA limitations, 9 to 0, ruling that
America hasn’t been “at War” as it wasn’t declared by our President or Congress since WWII! Tell
that to the millions of veterans who went to Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other
locations since 1945; and the thousands of wounded and families of those killed.
At the same time, they ruled 9 to 0 that Benjamin Carter was “first to file”, and sent that part of
the case back to the lower court which again ruled in Halliburton’s favor on “first to file”,
putting him close to the established 6-year statute of limitations, and Carter appealed.
I attended that Appeals Court hearing on March 23, 2017 to hear for myself what the Appeals Court
would do on the single issue remaining, “first to file” as the “statute of limitations” clock kept
ticking.
17 weeks later the famed “Rocket Docket” named as such for its speed handling cases ruled in favor
of Halliburton, that the six-year statute of limitations had run out, and since mine had been under
seal for 10 years I wonder if all those years are covered or is it just a simple thing for
corporations to “keep qui tam case” secreted away so they never face a judge or jury or justice?
July 31, 2017 the False Claims Act died in Richmond, Virginia! Will Congress again allow it to
remain so? Since 1863 in False Claims Act has been the only effective Fraud tool in America!
http://www.chamberlitigation.com/cases/united-states-ex-rel-carter-v-halliburton-co