United States v. Science Applications International Corp.

301 F.R.D. 1, 2013 WL 6698069, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178615
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedDecember 19, 2013
DocketCivil Action No. 04-1543 (RWR)
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 301 F.R.D. 1 (United States v. Science Applications International Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Science Applications International Corp., 301 F.R.D. 1, 2013 WL 6698069, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178615 (D.C. Cir. 2013).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

RICHARD W. ROBERTS, Chief Judge

The United States brought suit against Science Applications International Corporation (“SAIC”) alleging, in part, that SAIC failed to make disclosures of organizational conflicts of interest as was required under two contracts that SAIC entered into with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (“NRC”) in 1992 and 1999, in violation of the False Claims Act (“FCA”), 31 U.S.C. § 3729. On SAIC’s appeal of a jury verdict finding SAIC liable on the FCA claims, the D.C. Circuit vacated the judgment on FCA liability and damages due to a faulty jury instruction about calculating damages and remanded the case for further proceedings. SAIC now moves to reopen discovery on damages. Because SAIC is entitled to limited additional discovery on the issue of the government’s continuing use of any SAIC work product but is not entitled to a broader reopening of discovery, its motion will be granted in part and denied in part.

The D.C. Circuit found that the jury damages instruction was flawed. At trial, the jury was instructed:

Your calculations of damages should be limited to determining what the [NRC] paid to SAIC over and above what the NRC would have paid had it known of SAIC’s organizational conflicts of interest. Your calculation of damages should not attempt to account for the value of services, if any, that SAIC conferred upon the [NRC],

Final Jury Instructions, Trial Tr. vol. 16 at 21:22-22:3, July 28, 2013, EOF No. 161. The court of appeals found that this instruction was erroneous because it “essentially required the jury to assume that SAIC’s service had no value even in the face of possible evidence to the contrary.” United States v. Sci. Applications Int’l Corp. (SAIC III), 626 F.3d 1257, 1279 (D.C.Cir.2010). Instead, the court stated, “[t]o establish damages, the government must show not only that the defendant’s false claims caused the government to make payments that it would have otherwise withheld, but also that the performance the government received was worth less than what it believed it had purchased.” Id. Thus, for the government “to recover the full value of payments made” to SAIC, “the government [must] prove[] that it received no value from the product delivered.” Id. “SAIC, however, must also be allowed to offer evidence to the eontrary[.]” Id. at 1280.

SAIC moves under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1) and 16(b)(4) to reopen discovery, which closed in 2006, “for the limited purpose of allowing SAIC to develop the record evidence of value the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (‘NRC’) has received from SAIC’s work[.]” SAIC’s Mot. for Targeted Discovery on Damages (“SAIC’s Mot.”) at 1. To do this, “SAIC requests 120 days to depose a witness ... on the NRC’s use of SAIC’s work product; to conduct three half-day depositions of new fact witnesses regarding damages; and to seek from the government responses to specific and particularized document requests and a single interrogatory relating to damages.” Id. The proposed document requests seek: (1) “[a]ll documents related to or reflecting the NRC’s use of SAIC’s work performed under the 1992 and 1999 Contracts and the NRC’s use of NU-REG-1640,” (2) “[a]ll documents that evidence, support or establish the damages allegedly incurred by the Government as a [3]*3result of the OCIs alleged in the Complaint,” and (3) “[a]ll documents upon which the Government intends to rely at trial (related to damages).” SAIC’s Mem. in Supp. of Mot. for Targeted Discovery on Damages (“SAIC’s Mem.”) at 16. SAIC insists that the discovery will lead to relevant evidence it needs to contest the government’s argument that SAIC’s services were worthless. The government opposes.1 See U.S.’s Mem. in Opp’n to Def. SAIC’s Mot. for Discovery (“U.S.Opp’n”) at 1.

Generally, “discovery under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure should be freely permitted,” Edmond v. U.S. Postal Serv. Gen. Counsel, 949 F.2d 415, 425 (D.C.Cir.1991), and discovery disputes are committed to the discretion of the court. United Presbyterian Church v. Reagan, 738 F.2d 1375, 1382 (D.C.Cir.1984); accord Fusco v. Gen. Motors Corp., 11 F.3d 259, 267 (1st Cir.1993); Cleveland By & Through Cleveland v. Piper Aircraft Corp., 985 F.2d 1438, 1450 (10th Cir.1993), abrogration on other grounds recognized by U.S. Airways, Inc. v. O’Donnell, 627 F.3d 1318, 1326 (10th Cir.2010). This discretion includes whether to reopen discovery. Watt v. All Clear Bus. Solutions, LLC., 840 F.Supp.2d 324 (D.D.C.2012); accord Fusco, 11 F.3d at 267.

SAIC contends that a motion to reopen discovery prior to a retrial is governed by the “good cause” standard. SAIC’s Mem. at 7. By contrast, the United States argues that the “manifest injustice” standard should apply. U.S. Opp’n at 2. Neither the D.C. Circuit nor the Supreme Court has spoken on what standard is applicable to a motion to reopen discovery prior to a retrial. Typically, “reopening discovery would require a showing of good cause” because reopening discovery requires an amendment of a scheduling order. United States ex rel. Pogue v. Diabetes Treatment Ctrs. of Am., 576 F.Supp.2d 128, 133 (D.D.C.2008). However, the United States contends that because a final pretrial order was issued before the first trial, the appropriate standard for reopening discovery is manifest injustice. U.S. Opp’n at 2 (“Moreover, in a retrial setting, Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16(e) and Local Rule 16.5 mandate that final pretrial orders issued by the Court for the first trial ‘shall control the subsequent course of action ... [and] shall be modified only to prevent manifest injustice.’ ”); see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 16(e) (stating that modification of a final pretrial order is permissible only to “prevent manifest injustice.”); LCvR 16.5 (same). While there is some force to SAIC’s argument that the good cause standard should apply, see SAIC’s Mem. at 4; SAIC’s Reply at 3-5, it is unnecessary to decide which standard is applicable since SAIC has shown that it would suffer a manifest injustice if it were denied the opportunity to discover evidence arising after discovery closed in 2006 about damages. However, SAIC has not demonstrated good cause for reopening discovery on matters that it had a full opportunity to pursue before discovery closed in 2006.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
301 F.R.D. 1, 2013 WL 6698069, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-science-applications-international-corp-cadc-2013.