Rarely can this be said, but the 3rd Circuit issued a pleasant and easy-to-read opinion in the qui tam action in In re Plavix Mktg., Sales Practices and Prod. Liab. Litig. First, the Court held that the first-to-file bar in 31 U.S.C. ยง 3730 is not jurisdictional. The 3rd Circuit also ruled that a partnership created solely for the purpose of bringing the action became a separate and distinct entity when one partner left and another joined. Thus, the new partnership was not an intervenor, but rather an entirely new entity that ran afoul of the first-to-file bar.
