U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed skeptical of arguments that the 1942 Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act should cover civil, as well as criminal, offenses, during Jan. 13 oral arguments in a case involving contractor Kellogg Brown & Root. If the court rules that the law does apply to civil offenses, federal contractors, including construction companies, could face more liability.
The case centers on allegations by Benjamin Carter, an ex-KBR employee, that the company fraudulently billed the government for services at an Iraq water-purification plant in 2005 that were never performed. Carter filed a civil lawsuit under the False Claims Act in 2006, but the claims were dismissed for technical reasons, and the six-year statute of limitations ran out.