UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 14-1816
JOHN MCLAIN, United States Of America, ex rel.,
Plaintiff – Appellant,
v.
KBR, INC.,
Defendant - Appellee.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Alexandria. Gerald Bruce Lee, District
Judge. (1:08-cv-00499-GBL-TCB)
Submitted: July 31, 2015 Decided: August 13, 2015
Before WILKINSON and SHEDD, Circuit Judges, and DAVIS, Senior
Circuit Judge.
Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
Jonathan K. Tycko, TYCKO & ZAVAREEI LLP, Washington, D.C.; Harry
Litman, LITMAN LAW FIRM, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, for
Appellants. John P. Elwood, Craig D. Margolis, Tirzah S.
Lollar, Joshua S. Johnson, VINSON & ELKINS LLP, Washington,
D.C., for Appellee.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
John McLain filed a complaint against KBR, Inc., pursuant
the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. §§ 3728-33 (2012) (“FCA”),
asserting that KBR submitted false claims for payment in
connection with electrical work it did in Iraq pursuant to a
government contract. The district court dismissed McLain’s
initial complaint, but allowed him to file an amended complaint.
The court then dismissed the amended complaint pursuant to Fed.
R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the
district court’s order.
We review de novo a district court’s dismissal under Fed.
R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), accepting factual allegations in the
complaint as true and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor
of the nonmoving party. Kensington Volunteer Fire Dep’t v.
Montgomery Cty., 684 F.3d 462, 467 (4th Cir. 2012). To survive
a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain
sufficient “facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible
on its face.” Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570
(2007). The FCA prohibits any person from knowingly presenting
or causing to be presented a false or fraudulent claim for
payment, or knowingly making, using, or causing to be made or
used, a false record or statement material to a false or
fraudulent claim. 31 U.S.C. § 3729(a)(1)(A), (B). “To prove a
false claim, a plaintiff must allege four elements: (1) a false
2
statement or fraudulent course of conduct; (2) made with the
requisite scienter; (3) that is material; and (4) that results
in a claim to the [g]overnment.” United States v. Triple
Canopy, 775 F.3d 628, 634 (4th Cir. 2015), pet. for cert. filed,
No. 14-1440 (June 8, 2015).
In addition, “claims under the FCA must also meet the more
stringent particularity requirement of Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 9(b).” Id. at 634 (internal quotations omitted). In
this context, “Rule 9(b) requires that an FCA plaintiff must, at
a minimum, describe the time, place, and contents of the false
representations, as well as the identity of the person making
the misrepresentation and what he obtained thereby.” Id.
(internal quotation marks omitted). We have thoroughly reviewed
the record and conclude that the district court did not err in
concluding that the amended complaint failed to plead fraud with
the requisite specificity. On this basis, we affirm the
district court’s order. We dispense with oral argument because
the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the
materials before this court and argument would not aid in the
decisional process.
AFFIRMED
3