FALSE CLAIMS ACT-SCIENTER REQUIREMENT

United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc., 2023 U.S. LEXIS 2300, 2023 WL 3742577 (S. Ct. June 1, 2023) (Thomas, J.). The False Claims Act (FCA) imposes liability on anyone who “knowingly” submits a “false” claim to the Government. 31 U. S. C. §3729(a). In certain circumstances, pharmacies are required to bill Medicare and Medicaid for their “usual and customary” drug prices. And, critically, these cases involve defendants (respondents here) who may have correctly understood the relevant standard and submitted inaccurate claims anyway. The question presented is thus whether respondents could have the scienter required by the FCA if they correctly understood that standard and thought that their claims were inaccurate. We hold that the answer is yes: What matters for an FCA case is whether the defendant knew the claim was false. Thus, if respondents correctly interpreted the relevant phrase and believed their claims were false, then they could have known their claims were false.