Clifford Chance

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Wartime Tolling Does Not Apply in Civil False Claims Act Cases

27 May 2015

The U.S. Supreme Court held today in Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. KBR (Case No. 12-1497) that the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act ("WSLA") does not toll the statute of limitations in civil False Claims Act ("FCA") actions during times when the United States is at war.  The United States and qui tam relators (private parties who pursue FCA suits on the government's behalf) have increasingly been relying on the WSLA to save civil FCA claims that would otherwise be barred under the FCA’s 6-year statute of limitations.  The Supreme Court’s decision limits wartime tolling to criminal cases and overrules numerous lower courts that held that wartime tolling applies to civil FCA claims.

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