Adam Feinberg commented on the impact of the Supreme Court's 2016 decision in Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar that upheld the implied false certification theory of liability in False Claims Act (FCA) cases but added vigor to the FCA's materiality requirement. As to the materiality point, "[s]ince Escobar, numerous decisions have stated that FCA defendants are entitled to discover the government's views of the statutory, regulatory or contractual requirement at issue," Feinberg said. "Courts have allowed discovery about whether the government, despite knowing the requirement was unmet, nonetheless paid claims either to the defendant or to similarly situated parties. Whether and why the government continued to make payments after learning of the allegations in the case also might be relevant to materiality and thus be the proper subject of discovery."