Hyatt v. Northrop Corp.

Summary

        The U.S.C.A. 9th has confirmed, on remand of this action from the U.S. Supreme Court, that the revised qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act that were established through amendments in 1986 were not retroactive.

        The following facts are taken from the 9th Circuit's earlier opinion in this case and from the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer. Michael Hyatt was a former employee of Northrop Corp. Hyatt was discharged on May 13, 1986. He filed a complaint alleging wrongful discharge and intentional infliction of emotional distress. He also asserted a False Claims Act (FCA) cause of action in qui tam on behalf of the government. The district court dismissed Hyatt's FCA qui tam claim. The FCA was amended in 1986 to provide employees with a federal cause of action for retaliatory firing. The 1986 amendments also deleted an FCA defense that had barred qui tam actions based on information already in the hands of the government. Hyatt subsequently claimed that his firing had been retaliatory. The district court granted summary judgment to Northrop on that claim. A jury ultimately found for Hyatt on his wrongful discharge claim, and for Northrop on his claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The 9th Circuit held that the retaliatory firing provisions of the 1986 FCA amendments were not retroactive, but that the provisions deleting the statutory defense for actions involving information in the government's hands did have retrospective effect. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari, and then decided in Hughes Aircraft Co. that none of the 1986 FCA amendments were retroactive. The U.S. Supreme Court then remanded this case.

        The U.S.C.A. 9th withdrew the portion of its earlier opinion that dealt with the retroactivity issue and affirmed. The court simply cited the Supreme Court's opinion and stated that "the end result is that the district court is affirmed in all respects."

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