On August 24, 2012, Judge Lindsay issued a decision (available here) in Phillips v. L-3 Communications. In the case, Phillips (a former employee of L-3) filed a qui tam false claims act lawsuit against L-3, accusing L-3 of violating the false claims act by providing the United States government with defective airplanes.
Judge Lindsay found that Phillips’ complaint failed to state a claim because, among other things, he failed to adequately plead (i) that the defective planes were actually sold to the United States in a defective state; (ii) that, assuming the planes were actually delivered to the United States, L-3 acted with the requisite scienter; and (iii) with the requisite particularity required by Rule 9(b).
Judge Lindsay refused Phillips’ request that he be allowed leave to amend his complaint, noting that Phillips had already amended his complaint once in response to a prior motion to dismiss that asserted the same defects as the current motion to dismiss, and that Phillips had not provided the Court with any information as to how he intended to remedy the deficiencies in his complaint.
Phillips is represented by Mark Nacol, of The Nacol Law Firm.
L-3 is represented by Sarah Teachout, Jeremy Kernodle, and Nicole Somerville, all of Haynes & Boone LLP.