College of Law

Professor Matthew Titolo’s article on legislative retroactivity was cited by the Sixth Circuit in Sanders v. Allison Engine Company, Inc., 2012 WL 5373532 (6th Cir. Nov. 2, 2012). The article analyzes the effective date provision in the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act and argues that the statute’s expanded liability applies to qui tam lawsuits against government contractors that were pending on or before the date the statute was enacted. Allison Engine involved allegations of fraud against defense contractors in connection with billing the Navy for faulty generator sets used in Arleigh-Burke-class Guided Missile Destroyers and for presenting false pricing data in negotiations. The Court cited Professor Titolo’s statutory analysis to hold that lawsuits alleging fraud against government subcontractors could proceed even though the subcontractors had not presented their false claims directly to the government, as had been required under law prior to the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act.