OPINION
This action under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., was filed by relators Guy D. McCoy, Jr. and Frank Helium on September 16, 1988. The matter is now before the court on motions by defendants California Medical Review, Inc., Jo Ellen H. Ross, Margaret Shea and Alan Snodgrass to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim and under Federal Rule 9(b) for failure to plead fraud with particularity. Defendants also move to strike the claim for interest under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(f). Defendant Shea moves to strike portions of the complaint under Federal Rule 12(f). Plaintiff United States moves to amend its first amended complaint.
Having considered the memoranda and the arguments of the parties, the court GRANTS plaintiff’s motion to amend the First Amended Complaint, DENIES defendants’ motion to dismiss counts I and II under Federal Rules 12(b)(6) and 9(b) and DENIES defendant California Medical Review’s motion to dismiss Counts III, IV and V of the First Amended Complaint. The court further DENIES as moot defendant Snodgrass' motion to strike the prayer for an award of interest, and DENIES defendant Shea’s motion to strike portions of the complaint under Rule 12(f).
*1365 BACKGROUND
Relators McCoy and Helium are former employees of defendant California Medical Review, Inc. (“CMR”). Acting as qui tam plaintiffs under the False Claims Act (“Act”), 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., relators filed this action in September 1988, alleging fraudulent practices by CMR in violation of the Act. On January 3, 1989, pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(4), the United States entered its appearance and took over the action. The United States filed its first amended complaint on March 22, 1989.
The United States, suing on behalf of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), seeks damages and civil penalties arising from false claims and reports allegedly submitted by California Medical Review, Inc. (CMR) to HCFA. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1320c et seq., HCFA is responsible for administering certain aspects of the Medicare program, in particular the Prospective Payment System (PPS). Under the PPS system, each state has one Peer Review Organization (PRO), which contracts with HHS to monitor and review hospital discharge payments under the Medicare program. The PROs review each discharge case under HCFA’s regulations, denying any inappropriate discharge payments. See 42 C.F.R. §§ 466.83-466.-104; 476.101-476.103. The crux of the United States’ case is the allegation that CMR and its personnel, without performing this required review, fraudulently certified to HCFA that the review had been completed.
The United States alleges that at least from July 1, 1988 to September 30, 1986, the time of the fraud alleged in this action, CMR was under contract with HHS to serve as California’s PRO. The United States alleges that the individual defendants were employed by CMR during the relevant period in the following capacities: Jo Ellen H. Ross was and is CMR’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Larry Magna was CMR’s Senior Vice President for Operations; Margaret Shea, formerly CMR’s Assistant to the CEO, is now CMR’s Community Outreach Specialist; Allen Lee Snodgrass, CMR’s former Director of Review, is now CMR's Senior Vice President for Corporate Operations. The government alleges that the individual defendants were agents of CMR, acting within the scope of their employment for CMR’s benefit.
The United States alleges that under CMR’s 1984-1986 contract with HHS, which is not before the court, CMR was required to “review[ ] the medical discharge records of Medicare beneficiaries to determine the appropriateness of hospital costs and quality of care.” Second Amended Complaint, para. 16. CMR’s “Review Coordinators” performed this task and were responsible for referring questionable discharge records to a Physician’s Advisor for further evaluation. Id.
The United States alleges that on or about July 28, 1986, a meeting attended by defendants Ross, Magna, Snodgrass and others was held at CMR’s corporate headquarters. At that meeting a telephone conference call was planned for July 30, 1989. During the conference call, plaintiff alleges, CMR’s District Directors “were instructed to apply procedures for certifying the review of hospital discharges without review by Review Coordinators ...” Second Amended Complaint, para. 28. Plaintiffs allege that defendants employed a procedure called “autoeertification,” which involved stamping the identification number of a CMR Review Coordinator or District Review Manager on a discharge, although neither that CMR employee nor any other had in fact reviewed the discharge. Id. at paras. 28, 31.
The United States alleges that, pursuant to this system for falsely certifying that contractually required review had actually taken place, defendants falsely claimed that 51,094 reviews were performed between August 1, 1986 and September 30, 1986. Second Amended Complaint, para. 31. Approximately 30,000 discharges were identified as reviewed by defendant Snodgrass alone. Id.
According to the United States, CMR’s 1984-1986 agreement with HCFA was a fixed price contract which called for month *1366 ly payments of $1,125,000 from HCFA to CMR. Second Amended Complaint, para. 17. During the time of the alleged fraud, CMR received over $2,400,000 for its contractual services. Id. at para. 38. The United States alleges that because CMR did not perform the required reviews, HCFA lost approximately $4,314,600 in hospital payments that it should not have authorized or reimbursements it should have recouped. Id.
Article XIX of the contract allegedly provides that CMR would obtain each installment payment upon the HCFA project officer’s certification that performance was satisfactory. Second Amended Complaint, para. 17. In making this determination, the government contends, the HCFA project officer relied upon, inter alia, invoices CMR submitted and documents known as HCFA-516 reports also submitted by CMR. Id. Those documents allegedly incorporated the false certification that 51,-000 discharge forms had been reviewed.
Count I of the complaint alleges that pursuant to this review process, and “for purposes of obtaining or aiding to obtain payment or approval,” the defendants presented to the United States four invoices containing false or fraudulent representations of CMR’s contract performance. Second Amended Complaint, para. 40. Count II alleges that the defendants presented two false HCFA-516 reports, “knowing them to be false records and/or containing false or fraudulent statements, or acting with reckless disregard or deliberate ignorance thereof.” Id. at para. 43. Counts III, IV and V of the First Amended Complaint, though based on the same facts, are brought solely against CMR and allege, respectively, breach of contract, payment under mistake of fact, and unjust enrichment. First Amended Complaint at paras. 32-33, 35-36, 39-40. In the Second Amended Complaint, Counts III, IV and V are renumbered as IV, V and VI respectively and a new Count III is added. The new count charges a conspiracy among all defendants to make or present the two false HCFA-516 reports and the four false invoices. Second Amended Complaint at para. 46.
All defendants except defendant Magna move to dismiss Counts I and II under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) and 9(b). Defendants contend that applying the 1986 False Claims Act amendments to their alleged conduct violates the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the ex post facto prohibition of Article I, sections 9 and 10 of the United States Constitution, and therefore move to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). Defendants further contend that the complaint fails to allege fraud with sufficient particularity as required by Rule 9(b). Defendant CMR moves to dismiss Counts III, IV and V of the First Amended Complaint on both 12(b)(6) and 9(b) grounds. Defendant Shea moves to strike portions of the complaint under Rule 12(f). The United States moves to amend its First Amended Complaint. The court will deal with each motion in turn.
DISCUSSION
A. Motion to Amend
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a), leave of the court to amend the complaint “shall be freely given when justice so requires.” Defendants have filed no opposition to plaintiff’s motion to amend its First Amended Complaint and the court therefore follows Rule 15’s liberal amendment policy. Accordingly, the motion to file a Second Amended Complaint is granted.
B. Motion to Dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6)
1. Legal Standard
A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim will be denied unless it appears that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts which would entitle him or her to relief.
Conley v. Gibson,
In the instant case, defendants base their motion to dismiss on the claim that the 1986 changes to the False Claims Act may not be constitutionally applied to their conduct, since that conduct occurred before the passage of the amendments. The 1986 amendments changed the Act in several ways arguably relevant to these defendants, including providing for greater damages (treble damages where the Act formerly allowed only for double) and a fine of $5,000-$10,000 per violation (compared to the old fine of $2,000 per false claim). The old Act imposed liability upon any person who “knowingly presents, or causes to be presented” a false claim. 31 U.S.C. § 3729 (1982). The Act as amended has not changed the relevant language requiring that a false claim be “knowingly” presented, but adds a definition of “knowingly.” The Act now states that “knowingly” mean that a person:
(1) has actual knowledge of the information;
(2) acts in deliberate ignorance of the truth or falsity of the information; or
(3) acts in reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of the information.
31 U.S.C. § 3729(b) (1986). In addition, section 3729(b) now states that “no proof of specific intent to defraud is required.” Id.
The legislative history of the 1986 amendments indicates that the reference to specific intent was intended to clarify the confusion that existed among the circuits, with some circuits (including the Ninth), requiring proof of specific intent under the old Act and others imposing liability for deliberate indifference or reckless disregard.
See
S.Rep. No. 99-345, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 24,
reprinted in
1986 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News 5266, 5289 (hereinafter Leg. Hist.);
United States v. Hill,
2. Retroactivity of the 1986 False Claims Act Amendments
Defendants, relators and the United States are in agreement that when a statute is silent as to whether it is effective retroactively as well as prospectively, courts must look to the Supreme Court’s teaching in
Bradley v. Richmond School Board,
a court is to apply the law in effect at the time it renders its decision, unless doing so would result in manifest injustice or there is statutory direction or legislative history to the contrary.
Id.
at 711,
The 1986 amendments to the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3730, took effect as of the date of their enactment, October 27, 1986. The amendments are silent on the question of whether they were intended to be applied prospectively only or retroactively. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730; 1986 U.S. Code Cong. & Admin.News at 5288-92.
In support of retroactive application, plaintiff and relators offer the statements of two of the bill’s sponsors, Representatives Howard Berman and Dan Glickman, explaining that the amendments were intended to be retroactive, and discussing the
Bradley
analysis.
See
133 Cong.Rec. H9515 (daily ed. Nov. 3, 1987). These statements, however, can be given little or no weight by the court since they were made more than a year
after
the passage of the amendment and do not therefore necessarily represent the views of the leg
*1368
islators who enacted the amendments.
See United States v. Clark,
This court concludes, as have other district courts, that analysis of the legislative history of the 1986 amendments sheds no light on congressional intent with regard to retroactivity.
See, e.g., Kelsoe,
Because neither the amendments themselves nor the legislative history offer any insight into whether Congress intended retroactive application of the Act’s amended provisions, the court must look to the factors enumerated in Bradley to determine whether retroactive application would result in “manifest injustice.” The court notes that while as yet no appellate court appears to have considered the retroactivity issue, the substantial majority (ten of fourteen) of district courts which have faced the question have found that the 1986 amendments should be applied retroactively. 1 Virtually all of these district courts have utilized the Bradley analysis.
Under
Bradley,
a. Nature and identity of the parties
The first prong of the
Bradley
test recognizes the distinction between private disputes and litigation involving important public interests.
in mere private cases between individuals, a court will and ought to struggle hard against a construction which will, by a retrospective operation, affect the rights of parties, but in great national concerns ... the court must decide according to existing laws.
Id., (quoting
United States v. Schooner Peggy,
Relators are correct that every court which has applied this
Bradley
factor to the False Claims Act amendments has found that it favors retroactive application of the amendments.
See United States v. Hill,
In reaching this conclusion, these courts have relied on the critical national concern of eliminating government fraud, evidenced by the legislative history surrounding the passage of the amendments.
See, e.g., Hill,
b. Nature of the rights at issue
The second prong of the
Bradley
inquiry is intended to protect personal rights that have “matured or become unconditional.”
At the outset, the court must reject that part of defendants’ argument which is based upon the increased damage provisions of the amended Act. There is no vested right to a particular standard of liability.
See Gulf Offshore Co. v. Mobil Oil Corp.,
Most of the courts which have considered the retroactivity question with respect to the penalty issue under the False Claims Act have arrived at the same conclusion. In
Hill,
the court stated flatly, “It cannot be said that the defendants have a ‘matured’ or ‘unconditional’ right to ... any particular standard of liability.”
The application of the “specific intent” portion of the amended Act to defendants is more problematic. In the Ninth Circuit, before the amendments, proof of specific intent to defraud was required.
United States v. Mead,
While defendants' argument appears convincing at first glance, the court must reject it. In amending the Act, Congress did not
change
the intent requirement; it merely clarified what had been the proper standard under the old Act.
See
31 U.S.C. § 3729(b); 1986 U.S.Code Cong. & Admin. News at 5271-72;
Hill,
Indeed, the vitality of the Ninth Circuit’s view may have been significantly eroded by later Supreme Court and other Ninth Circuit decisions regarding specific intent in criminal cases generally. This circuit now disfavors the use of the specific intent instruction, favoring instead an instruction tailored to the elements of the offense.
See United States v. Brooksby,
After the Ninth Circuit’s ruling in
Mead,
the Supreme Court took a close look at the use of the terms “specific intent”, “general intent” and “knowingly to act” in various contexts. In
United States v. Bailey,
The
Mead
decision exemplifies the difficulty in distinguishing between the common law concept of specific intent and knowledge. In
Mead,
the Ninth Circuit used the terms interchangeably, finding that the government failed to show that the defendants “knew that the claims were false or that they had a specific intent to deceive.”
Thus, defendants’ argument that their conduct should be judged by the pre-1986
*1371
standard in this circuit is based on a doubtful premise in the first instance. The notion of common law “specific intent” was abandoned in favor of a statute specific test in 1982,
see Brooksby,
The remaining pertinent 1986 amendments do not change Ninth Circuit law. Section 3729 was amended to add subparagraph (b) which provides the three definitions of the term “knowingly” as described above. These definitions had been accepted by this circuit well before the conduct alleged in this complaint occurred. In
United States v. Jewell,
The speciousness of defendants’ argument, which boils down to the claim that they relied upon the Ninth Circuit’s erroneous interpretation of the False Claims Act’s requirement of “knowing” conduct, and that such reliance engenders a substantive right, can be illustrated by analogy to the judicial process itself. In amending the Act to clarify the intent requirement, Congress acted as the Supreme Court often does when it is called upon to resolve a split among the circuits. In such cases, persons in the circuits whose interpretation is rejected by the Court have no vested right to benefit from the old, incorrect interpretation, no matter how strong their claim of reliance. Nor should defendants here be allowed to benefit from an interpretation of the Act now rejected by Congress. 3
Other courts considering the amended Act’s specific intent provision have also rejected the reliance argument defendants advance here.
See Hill,
The court finds that the second Bradley factor, the nature of the rights at stake, weighs entirely in favor of retroactive application of the amendments, since defendants have no legally protectable, unconditional rights which are affected by the change.
c. Impact of the change on the parties’ rights
Because the court has found that defendants have no substantive rights which are affected by the amendments, the court need not consider the third Bradley factor.
The court therefore rejects defendants’ argument that the amendments have an impact upon any matured, unconditional
*1372
rights they possess, and finds that retroactive application of the amendments is proper under both
Bradley v. Richmond School Board,
C.Motion to Dismiss Under Rule 9(b)
Defendants Ross, Shea, Snodgrass and CMR move to dismiss Counts I and II of the First Amended Complaint for failure to plead fraud with specificity as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). Under the Rule, “[i]n all averments of fraud or mistake, the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake shall be stated with particularity.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 9(b). As a rule, a complaint alleging fraud must, at a minimum, set forth the time, place and specific content of each alleged act of fraud.
Semegen v. Weidner,
In particular, defendant Shea attacks the First Amended Complaint’s failure to allege any action by her whatsoever. Other defendants complain that the dates and specific documents alleged to be fraudulent are not sufficiently identified in the complaint.
The Second Amended Complaint supplies a significantly greater level of detail than the first in describing the alleged fraud and the participation of each defendant. In particular, paragraphs 19-22 and 28-36 of the Second Amended Complaint describe the plan allegedly created by defendant Snodgrass and approved and implemented by defendants Ross, Magna and Shea for falsely certifying that discharges from the last quarter of fiscal 1986 had been reviewed. Paragraph 33 identifies the specific documents alleged to contain the false certification information.
The purpose of Rule 9(b) is to ensure that allegations of fraud are specific enough to apprise defendants of the misconduct alleged, “so that they can defend against the charge and not just deny that they have done anything wrong.”
Semegen,
D. CMR’s Motion to Dismiss Counts III, IV and V
CMR, the only defendant charged in Counts III, IV and V of the First Amended Complaint (renumbered as Counts IV, V and VI in the Second Amended Complaint), moves to dismiss those counts for failure to state a claim. CMR alleges that revised Counts IV, V and VI are “vague and uncertain” and incorporates by reference its objections to Counts I and II, which the court rejected above.
Although the court agrees with defendant that it would have been preferable for plaintiff to attach the contract to the pleadings and identify the specific contractual provisions alleged to have been breached, the complaint is nonetheless sufficiently specific as to the allegations of Counts IV, V and VI. Under the Second Amended Complaint, plaintiffs provide details about the allegedly false certifications, identify the false documents, and explain precisely what work (the reviews of discharge forms) defendant was obligated to perform. The complaint, therefore, is sufficiently specific as to the substance of the allegations. Accordingly, the court denies CMR’s motion to dismiss Counts IV, V and VI of the Second Amended Complaint.
E. Motion to Strike Under Rule 12(f)
1. Prayer for interest
Defendant Snodgrass, joined by defendants Shea, Ross and CMR, moves to
*1373
strike the prayer for an award of interest under Counts I and II of the First Amended Complaint, contending that such an award is not authorized under the False Claims Act. Defendants cite
United States v. McLeod,
2. Immaterial matter
Defendant Shea, joined by CMR, Snodgrass and Ross, moves to strike paragraphs 12 and 13 of the First Amended Complaint, which contain a description of the relationship among Medicare providers, Peer Review Organizations and HCFA. Defendant Shea refers to these paragraphs as “the author’s opinions concerning Medicare regulations,” Memo, in Support of Motion to Dismiss and to Strike at 9, and cites
Brainerd v. Potratz,
Neither defendant’s argument nor her citations are persuasive to the court. The two-paragraph introduction defendant challenges is not mere opinion, but rather a brief explanation, with citations to the Code of Federal Regulations, of a complex network of relations under the Medicare system. Defendant has not challenged the accuracy of plaintiff’s summary. The court finds that this type of introduction is entirely proper in arcane areas of regulation often unfamiliar to courts.
Defendant’s citations to
Brainerd
(which defendant misspells as “Brainard”), and
Liddell
are inapposite. In
Brainerd,
the court struck a pleading found to be “prolix, argumentative, and replete with legal conclusions and irrelevant and improper derogatory comments.”
CONCLUSION
The United States’ motion to amend the First Amended Complaint is GRANTED. The court DENIES defendants’ motion to dismiss counts I and II under Federal Rule 12(b)(6) and 9(b) and DENIES defendant California Medical Review’s motion to dismiss Counts III, IV and V of the First Amended Complaint. The court further DENIES as moot defendant Snodgrass’ motion to strike the prayer for an award of interest, and DENIES defendant Shea’s motion to strike portions of the complaint under Rule 12(f).
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Notes
.
See Gravitt v. General Elec.,
The court has found one published opinion and four unpublished orders holding that the amendments should
not
be applied retroactively.
See United States v. Bekhrad,
. The court notes the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in
United States v. Halper,
— U.S. -,
. The court notes and agrees with relators’ observation that in the case at bar, under the allegations in the Second Amended Complaint, defendants are charged with “knowing” conduct under both the old and new definitions. Since defendants therefore cannot claim that as applied to them, the new Act penalizes formerly innocent conduct, their argument is further weakened. This court finds, as did the Florida district court in Hill, that
it strains credulity to believe that had [defendants] known of the amendments, they would not have submitted false statements ... To entertain this assumption would be to conclude that the defendants, who [if the allegations are true], undisputably engaged in criminal conduct, would have done otherwise had they known that they could be held civilly liable without a showing of specific intent to defraud.
