On May 9, the Department of Justice (DOJ) published its Final Rule on the Civil Monetary Penalties Inflation Adjustment for 2022. This adjustment comes just five months after the last CMP Inflation Adjustment.
Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, the DOJ annually adjusts for inflation civil monetary penalties provided by law that are within the jurisdiction of the DOJ, with respect to violations occurring after November 2, 2015. Under the 2022 adjustment, the minimum False Claims Act (FCA) penalty assessed per violation occurring after May 9, 2022, will be not less than $12,537 and not more than $25,076. This per violation statutory penalty is in addition to the statutory penalty of three times the amount of damages which the government sustains because of the violation. 31 U.S.C. 3729(a)(1). The below chart shows the increase in penalties due to inflation from 2018 to 2022.
| U.S.C. citation | Name/description | CFR citation | DOJ penalty assessed after 1/29/2018 ($) | DOJ penalty assessed after 6/19/2020 ($) | DOJ penalty assessed after 12/13/2021 ($) | DOJ penalty assessed after 5/9/2022 ($) |
| 31 U.S.C. 3729(a) | False Claims Act; Violations | 28 CFR 85.3(a)(9) | Min 11,181, Max 22,363. |
Min 11,665, Max 23,331. |
Min 11,803, Max 23,607. |
Min 12,537, Max 25,076. |
If you have any questions related to the calculation of penalties under the False Claims Act, please contact the authors of this post.