Jenner & Block Wins 7th Circuit Qui Tam Dismissal 22 Years After Filing of First Suit in Dispute
Jenner & Block managing partner Susan Levy has been working to defeat claims stemming from a General Dynamics fighter jet contract for 22 years.
On Tuesday, she saw another victory, when the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of a false claims suit based on the contract, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reports.
Levy told the publication she had just returned to work from maternity leave when she saw the first suit stemming from the contract. It claimed that Dimitri Yannacopoulos should have been paid $39 million as a commission on the contract to sell F-16 fighter jets to Greece. Her firm won its defense of the case, at the trial level and on appeal.
Next, Yannacopoulos filed a false claims suit based on the same contract. Once again, Jenner succeeded in winning dismissal. Levy told Thomson Reuters that the 7th Circuit ruling in the case is important because it found that any reporting lapses have to be material to support a claim under the False Claims Act.
Since the original suit was filed, Levy’s newborn son has grown up and graduated from college. Has the litigation ended? “With this case,” she told Thomson Reuters, “I just can’t predict.”
