§3806 Collection of civil penalties and assessments

Summary

Allows the Attorney General to go to court to collect civil penalties or assessments that are finally decided under this chapter. If the government sues to collect, people cannot use issues that were or could have been raised in earlier hearings or reviews as a defense, and the finding that the person is liable and the amount owed cannot be reargued. These collection cases can be brought in U.S. district courts, and the government can join them with other lawsuits involving the same parties or assert them as counterclaims; the Court of Federal Claims can hear them if the claim is raised there as a counterclaim. The Attorney General alone can agree to settle or reduce a penalty or assessment while a petition or a recovery action about it is pending. Money the government collects is first used to repay the agency that paid investigation or court costs, and those repayments go back to that agency’s appropriation or a similar account and stay available until spent. Any money left over goes into the U.S. Treasury as miscellaneous receipts. Amounts imposed by the U.S. Postal Service go to the Postal Service Fund. Amounts imposed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services tied to Social Security or Medicare claims go to the matching trust funds: the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund, the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, or the Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund.