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Sarah Chen is an associate in the firm’s Government Enforcement & Investigations Practice Group.

Mortgage lenders and other entities submitting claims for payment to the federal government should take note of recent case law from the Ninth Circuit emphasizing how private litigants continue to drive litigation under the False Claims Act (FCA), even when the government shows little initiative to proceed (or, in this case, even moves to dismiss).

The Department of Justice announced Friday that it obtained more than $6.8 billion in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements and judgments in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025 (FY 2025). This is the largest total in a single year in FCA history, easily surpassing the $6.1 billion obtained in 2014.

Both recoveries and the