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United States v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
May 12, 2016
649 F. App'x 617 (9th Cir. 2016)

Opinion

No. 14-55879

05-12-2016

UNITED STATES ex rel. DANIEL THOMPSON, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL, INC., Defendant - Appellee.


NOT FOR PUBLICATION

D.C. No. 2:12-cv-02214-JAK-JCG MEMORANDUM Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California
John A. Kronstadt, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted May 3, 2016 Pasadena, California Before: KOZINSKI, W. FLETCHER, and GOULD, Circuit Judges.

This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. --------

We affirm the district court's dismissal with prejudice. "Under the False Claim[s] Act's scienter requirement, innocent mistakes, mere negligent misrepresentations and differences in interpretations will not suffice to create liability. Instead, Relators must allege that [the defendant] knew that its statements were false, or that it was deliberately indifferent to or acted with reckless disregard of the truth of the statements." United States ex rel. Lee v. Corinthian Colls., 655 F.3d 984, 996 (9th Cir. 2011) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). "Because they involve allegations of fraud, qui tam actions under the [False Claims Act] must meet not only the requirements of Rule 8, but also the particularity requirements of Rule 9." Id. at 992. Assuming arguendo that Honeywell is not permitted to charge the United States a license fee for the software at issue, the operative complaint does not specifically allege facts leading to the plausible inference that Honeywell knew that it was not entitled to charge the fee or that it was deliberately indifferent to or acted with reckless disregard of the truth. The complaint therefore does not state a claim under the False Claims Act. The district court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the case with prejudice because Thompson failed to cure this pleading defect after the court gave him multiple opportunities to do so.

AFFIRMED.


Summaries of

United States v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
May 12, 2016
649 F. App'x 617 (9th Cir. 2016)
Case details for

United States v. Honeywell Int'l, Inc.

Case Details

Full title:UNITED STATES ex rel. DANIEL THOMPSON, Plaintiff - Appellant, v. HONEYWELL…

Court:UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Date published: May 12, 2016

Citations

649 F. App'x 617 (9th Cir. 2016)