United States of America, Ex Rel. Springfield Terminal Railway Company David A. Fink v. Francis X. Quinn

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge WALD.

WALD, Circuit Judge:

This case presents issues of first impression concerning the 1986 amendments to the qui tam 1 provisions of the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., (“FCA”). Under these provisions, private persons acting on behalf of the government may sue those who defraud the government and share in any proceeds ultimately recovered. Since 1943, the FCA has included a jurisdictional limitation on qui tam actions, the most recent form of which bars suits that are “based upon the - public disclosure of allegations or transactions in…