By Rebecca Martin ( November 14, 2017, 4:23 PM EST) -- The Fifth Circuit handed a resounding defeat to the relator in U.S. ex rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries, a closely watched case with an unusual alignment of government and defense interests. The underlying jury verdict was entered in 2014 and resulted in a $682 million False Claims Act judgment — despite an express statement from the federal government that confirmed the product at issue was compliant with federal safety standards and fully eligible for payment of federal funds. On appeal, the court of appeals reversed the jury's verdict and in so doing, continued a remarkably strong trend of defense-friendly, post-Escobar[1] rulings. It also gave a hard pushback to relators who pursue cases in the name, but against the wishes, of the government, and coincides nicely with a recent U.S. Department of Justice statement about the government's future efforts to dismiss declined False Claims Act cases....