U.S. EX REL. BRANCH CONSULTANTS v. ALLSTATE INS. CO.

No. 07-31191.

560 F.3d 371 (2009)

UNITED STATES of America, ex rel. BRANCH CONSULTANTS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY; State Farm Fire and Casualty Company; Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company; Fidelity National Insurance Company; Fidelity National Property and Casualty Insurance Company; American National Property & Casualty Company; Pilot Catastrophe Services, Inc.; Crawford & Company, Allied Claims; NCA Group, Inc.; Simsol Insurance Services, Inc.; Unidentified Parties; American Reliable Insurance Company; Colonial Claims Corp.; Standard Fire Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

February 18, 2009.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Allan L. Kanner (argued), Cynthia Green St. Amant, Kanner & Whiteley, LLC, New Orleans, LA, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Brad D. Brian, Gregory John Weingart, Munger, Tolles & Olson, Los Angeles, CA, Judy Y. Barrasso, Stephen H. Kupperman, Barrassso, Usdin, Kupperman, Freeman & Sarver, New Orleans, LA, Genevieve Cox, Munger, Tolles & Olson, San Francisco, CA, Richard L. Fenton, Steven M. Levy, Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, Chicago, IL, for Allstate Ins. Co.

Phillip A. Wittmann (argued), Daria Burgess Diaz, Stone, Pigman, Walther & Wittmann, New Orleans, LA, for State Farm Fire & Cas. Co.

Russell Yager, Vinson & Elkins, Dallas, TX, for Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co.

Gerald Joseph Nielsen, William Truman Treas, Nielsen Law Firm, Metairie, LA, for Fidelity Nat. Ins. Co. and Fidelity Nat. Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co.

Jay M. Lonero, Christopher Raymond Pennison, Larzelere, Picou, Wells, Simpson, Lonero, Metairie, LA, for Am. Nat. Prop. & Cas. Co.

Robert A. Kutcher, Chopin, Wagar, Richard & Kutcher, Metairie, LA, James H. Crosby, Crosby Saad, LLC, Mobile, AL, Timothy J. Hatch, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Washington, DC, for Pilot Catastrophe Services, Inc.

Richard B. Eason, II, Raymond Peter Ward, Adams & Reese, New Orleans, LA, for Crawford & Co.

William Glenn Burns, Dominic J. Ovella, Darren A. Patin, Richard T. Simmons, Jr., Hailey, McNamara, Hall, Larmann & Papale, Metairie, LA, for NCA Group, Inc.

Andre Jude Lagarde, McCranie, Sistrunk, Anzelmo, Hardy, Maxwell & McDaniel, Metairie, LA, for Simsol Ins. Services, Inc.

Gordon Paul Serou, Jr., Law Offices of Gordon P. Serou, Jr., New Orleans, LA, for Am. Reliable Ins. Co.

Peter S. Koeppel, Michael Louis Martin, Best Koeppel, New Orleans, LA, for Colonial Claims Corp.

Harry A. Rosenberg, Phelps Dunbar, New Orleans, LA, Bryce L. Friedman (argued), Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, New York City, Deborah L. Stein, Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, LLP, Los Angeles, CA, for Standard Fire Ins. Co.

Before BENAVIDES, SOUTHWICK and HAYNES, Circuit Judges.


HAYNES, Circuit Judge:

Relator Branch Consultants appeals the district court's dismissal of its False Claims Act (FCA) complaint under the FCA's first-to-file jurisdictional bar. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5) (1994). The district court found the bar applicable because Branch's complaint alleges "the same general conduct and theory" of Katrina-related insurance fraud as the previously-filed FCA action in United States ex rel. Rigsby v. State Farm Insurance...

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