by Ben Vernia | May 19th, 2010
On May 10, District Judge James Fox of the EDNC granted a homeowners association’s motion to remand to state court its case against a property owner, overruling the man’s objection that as a qui tam relator in a separate case, he was an officer of the United States for purpose of federal court jurisdiction. The court noted that the Fifth Circuit had, in Riley v. St. Luke’s Episcopal Hosp., 252 F.3d 749 (5th Cir. 2001), ruled that the False Claims Act does not violate the Constitution’s Appointment’s Clause, because “qui tam relators are not officers of the United States.”
