A recent holding by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in United States ex rel. Cairns v. D.S. Med., LLC took a stance on the causation standard for False Claims Act (FCA) cases premised on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and may provide defendants in those cases with the ability to raise a valid new defense. In this Client Alert, Greenbaum attorneys Christopher D. Adams, Rachel A. Frost and Robert B. Hille analyze the reasoning behind – and significance of – the Court’s decision. They further note that in conflicting with a previous Third Circuit holding, it is not far-fetched to imagine that such a circuit split could eventually bring this issue before the U.S. Supreme Court.