## Facts

- A former employee of a defense contractor providing services to U.S. military facilities in Iraq alleged the contractor falsified timesheets and overbilled the federal government for work not performed or improperly performed.
- The relator filed multiple False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam complaints over time after learning of earlier-filed related qui tam actions.
- The first complaint was dismissed without prejudice under the FCA’s first-to-file bar due to a related action already pending.
- A later complaint was dismissed because an earlier related action was still pending on appeal.
- After earlier actions were dismissed, the relator filed another complaint more than six years after the alleged conduct; it was dismissed as untimely and also under the first-to-file bar based on another pending related action.
- The court of appeals held that the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act (WSLA) tolled the limitations period for civil FCA claims and that the first-to-file bar ends once the earlier case is no longer pending.

## Issues

1. Whether the WSLA suspends the statute of limitations for civil FCA actions, or only for criminal offenses.
2. Whether the FCA’s first-to-file bar permanently forecloses later related qui tam actions, or applies only while an earlier related action remains pending.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court held that the WSLA applies only to criminal offenses and does not toll limitations for civil FCA suits.
- The Court held that the FCA first-to-file bar applies only while an earlier related action is pending; once dismissed, it no longer bars a later related action.
- The Court reversed the judgment on the WSLA issue and affirmed on the first-to-file issue.

## Legal Principles

- The WSLA’s reference to “any offense” is read in its ordinary statutory context to mean criminal offenses; it does not extend to civil claims brought by private relators under the FCA.
- In applying the WSLA, statutory placement and usage within Title 18 support a criminal-only construction absent clear language extending tolling to civil actions.
- The FCA first-to-file bar in 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5) turns on whether the earlier action is “pending”; an action is pending only while it remains alive in court.
- The first-to-file bar operates as a “one-case-at-a-time” rule to prevent concurrent, duplicative qui tam litigation, not a permanent bar after dismissal of the earlier action.

## Conclusion

The Court limited wartime tolling under the WSLA to criminal prosecutions and clarified that the FCA’s first-to-file bar prevents overlapping related qui tam suits only during the pendency of the earlier action, allowing later suits once the earlier case has been dismissed.


Kellogg Brown & Root Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Carter, 135 S. Ct. 1970 (2015)