Whistleblower Must Still Show Materiality in Wisconsin Bell Suit

A whistleblower accusing AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell Inc. of defrauding the Federal Communications Commission by overcharging schools and libraries for telecommunications and information services has yet to show that noncompliance with the E-rate program’s price rules is material to payment decisions, a federal district court said.

Much of the evidence Wisconsin Bell seeks to introduce at the False Claims Act trial, scheduled for Jan. 20, is relevant to the “unresolved” issue of materiality, which concerns whether an act or omission affected a government payment decision, Judge Lynn S. Adelman said in a Dec. 19 order for the US District Court ...