Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk

Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided May 16, 2011
Full case name	Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk
Citations	563 U.S. 401 ( more )
Holding
A federal agency's written response to a FOIA request for records constitutes a "report" within the meaning of the FCA's public disclosure bar.
Court membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Antonin Scalia  · Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas  · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer  · Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor  · Elena Kagan
Case opinions
Majority	Thomas, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Alito
Dissent	Ginsberg, joined by Breyer, Sotomayor
Kagan took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
False Claims Act

Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk, 563 U.S. 401(2011), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the court held that a federal agency's written response to a Freedom of Information Act request for records constitutes a "report" within the meaning of the False Claims Act's public disclosure bar. ^{[1] [2]}

Background

The public disclosure bar of the False Claims Act (FCA) generally forecloses private parties from bringing qui tam suits to recover falsely or fraudulently obtained federal payments where those suits are "based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a congressional, administrative, or Government Accounting Office report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or from the news media." Kirk brought such a suit, alleging that his former employer, Schindler Elevator Corp., had submitted hundreds of false claims for payment under its federal contracts. To support his allegations, Kirk pointed to information his wife received from the United States Department of Labor (DOL) in response to three requests for records she filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Granting Schindler's motion to dismiss, the federal District Court concluded, among other things, that the FCA's public disclosure bar deprived it of jurisdiction over Kirk's allegations that were based on information disclosed in a government "report" or "investigation." The Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded, holding, in effect, that an agency's response to a FOIA request is neither a "report" nor an "investigation." ^[1]

Opinion of the court

The Supreme Court issued an opinion on May 16, 2011. ^[1]

References

1. Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk, 563 U.S. 401 (2011).
2. Fraser, Eric M. (May 17, 2011). "Opinion analysis: Court restricts use of FOIA in FCA cases". SCOTUSblog. Retrieved December 19, 2025.

External links

• Text of Schindler Elevator Corp. v. United States ex rel. Kirk, 563 U.S. 401(2011) is available from: Justia

This article incorporates written opinion of a United States federal court. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the text is in the public domain .