By J. Taylor Chenery and Brian Irving ( November 6, 2018, 11:52 AM EST) -- The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently criticized some courts' willingness to "slip into a comfortable routine" of granting requests from the government to extend the period during which a False Claims Act action remains under seal while the government investigates and decides whether to intervene. Breaking from this practice, which it noted "can amount to significant abuses of the statutory scheme," the court in U.S. ex rel. Brasher v. Pentec Health Inc. denied the government's 11th extension request, and then doubled down by denying the government's request for reconsideration even after both the relator and the defendant joined that request. In so doing, the court adopted a narrow view of what constitutes "good cause" to extend the seal period....