DAVID L. RUSSELL, District Judge.
Before the Court is the Motion for Summary Judgment filed by Defendants The Holloway Group, Inc., Willis Holloway, Jr., and Janet Scott. Doc. No. 105. For the following reasons, this motion is DENIED in part and GRANTED in part.
This qui tam action was originally filed on March 8, 2011, and the United States elected not to intervene on June 4, 2012. One month later, Plaintiff filed a redacted Complaint asserting claims against Defendants based upon their alleged fraudulent activity. Then on October 31, 2012, Plaintiff filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. Notably, while Plaintiff failed to list this suit as an asset on Schedule B in his bankruptcy petition, Plaintiff did list this suit on the Statement of Financial Affairs in his petition. After the trustee found that no property was available to distribute to his creditors,
Based upon Plaintiff's failure to list this suit on Schedule B of his bankruptcy petition, Defendants now argue that they are entitled to summary judgment due to Plaintiff's purported lack of standing and the doctrine of judicial estoppel. Defendants also argue that they are entitled to summary judgment with regard to Plaintiff's separate common law claims for unjust enrichment and payment by mistake both because these claims cannot properly be brought by Plaintiff on behalf of the United States, and also because these equitable claims are improper due to the existence of an adequate remedy at law under the False Claims Act.
Summary judgment is appropriate "if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a). "[A] motion for summary judgment should be granted only when the moving party has established the absence of any genuine issue as to a material fact." Mustang Fuel Corp. v. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., 561 F.2d 202, 204 (10th Cir.1977) (citations omitted). All facts and reasonable inferences therefrom are construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. See Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986).
Defendants first argue that they are entitled to summary judgment based upon Plaintiff's failure to list this suit as an asset on Schedule B of his bankruptcy petition. According to Defendants, Plaintiff's failure to list this suit on Schedule B means that the bankruptcy trustee could not have abandoned the suit from the bankruptcy estate, which in turn means that the suit is still property of the bankruptcy estate. Thus, Defendants argue that Plaintiff lacks standing to pursue this action, and also that Plaintiff should be judicially estopped from pursuing this action.
As previously mentioned, Plaintiff did fail to list this suit on Schedule B of his bankruptcy petition. Despite this, Plaintiff listed the suit on the Statement of Financial Affairs in his petition. Consequently, the Court must determine whether Plaintiff properly disclosed this suit to the bankruptcy trustee such that the suit was abandoned by the trustee.
Under § 554(c) of the Bankruptcy Code, property "scheduled under section 521(a)(1)" is considered abandoned to the debtor if it is not administered by the trustee at the time of the closing of the bankruptcy case. Courts appear to be split with regard to whether "scheduled under section 521(a)(1)" refers to: (1) all disclosures required in § 521(a)(1), including the schedule of assets and liabilities and the statement of the debtor's financial affairs; (2) only disclosures made on schedules; or (3) only disclosures made on the schedule of assets and liabilities. See In re Hill, 195 B.R. 147, 149 (Bankr. D.N.M.1996).
While some courts interpret the language of § 554(c) to refer only to the disclosures made on schedules in the bankruptcy petition, see, e.g., In re Fossey, 119 B.R. 268, 272 (D.Utah 1990); In re Schmid, 54 B.R. 78, 80 (Bankr.D.Or.1985), the Court finds it more appropriate to read § 554(c)'s language more broadly. In other words, the Court finds that the "scheduled" requirement in § 554(c) refers to all of the disclosures required in § 521(a)(1), including the debtor's statement of financial affairs.
Defendants also argue that they are entitled to summary judgment with regard to Plaintiff's common law claims for unjust enrichment and payment by mistake, and the Court agrees. "A relator in a qui tam FCA action does not have standing to assert common law claims based upon injury sustained by the United States." United States ex rel. Rockefeller v. Westinghouse Elec. Co., 274 F.Supp.2d 10, 14 (D.D.C.2003) (citing United States ex rel. Phipps v. Comprehensive Cmty. Dev. Corp., 152 F.Supp.2d 443, 451-52 (S.D.N.Y.2001); United States ex rel. Walsh v. Eastman Kodak Co., 98 F.Supp.2d 141, 149 (D.Mass.2000); United States ex rel. Long v. SCS Bus. & Tech. Inst., 999 F.Supp. 78, 92 (D.D.C.1998), rev'd on other grounds, 173 F.3d 870 (D.C.Cir.1999)). Plaintiff's Complaint states that his common law claims for unjust enrichment and payment by mistake are claims "by the United States." See Doc. No. 13, at 18-19. Further, Plaintiff's Complaint indicates that the claims are based upon injury to the United States, and requests that money be returned to the United States based upon this alleged injury. See Doc. No. 13, at 18-19. This forecloses Plaintiff's assertion in his response brief that these claims were brought due to financial injury to Plaintiff himself, as they clearly were not. Therefore, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED with regard to Plaintiff's claims for unjust enrichment and payment by mistake.
Accordingly, Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED in part and GRANTED in part. While Defendants are entitled to summary judgment with regard to Plaintiff's common law claims for unjust enrichment and payment by mistake, Plaintiff's remaining claims survive.
IT IS SO ORDERED.