False Claims Act and Qui Tam

Preventing fraud and abuse in government program expenditures remains a top law enforcement priority.  Federal agencies have aggressively pursued investigations and prosecutions of government contractors and health care entities.  Perhaps no vehicle for pursuing these claims presents greater challenges than the federal False Claims Act, which allows cases to be brought by “whistleblowers” suing on behalf of the government against those alleged to have submitted false claims for payment to an officer of the United States.  The government views the Act as an ideal enforcement vehicle because it encourages private individuals to ferret out alleged fraud on behalf of the government, and it provides for treble damages.  Likewise, whistleblowers (and the plaintiffs’ bar that specializes in these cases) aggressively pursue these claims because of the statutory entitlement to a share of the Government’s recovery and the attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing the litigation.  Many states also have enacted statutes that parallel the False Claims Act.

Who We Represent

Our firm has wide-ranging experience handling False Claims Act cases, especially in the health care and government contracts arenas.  Our attorneys also have represented manufacturers, hospitals, retailers and other clients in connection with False Claims Act matters. 

We have experience representing clients both large and small from all of the major industries that receive federal funds, such as the health care, pharmaceutical and financial services industries, as well as government contractors in the defense, energy and environmental sectors.

What We Do

Our firm has wide-ranging experience handling False Claims Act cases from their inception as a subpoena or civil investigative demand (CID) through trial.  Indeed, we are one of the few firms in the country that has tried, and won, defense jury verdicts for government contractors in False Claims Act cases.

Our background in this area includes the following experience:

• Conducting internal investigations
• Advising corporations on the advantages and disadvantages of voluntary disclosure
• Negotiating with and convincing the Department of Justice not to intervene in civil fraud cases brought by qui tam relators
• Negotiating “global” settlements with the government, requiring the concurrence of the government's civil, criminal and administrative authorities
• Preventing the suspension, debarment, or exclusion of corporate entities or individuals from government contracts or grant programs
• Responding to subpoenas and defending individuals and corporations in criminal actions which arise out of False Claims Act cases
• Representing corporations in connection with congressional investigations related to the False Claims Act

• Counseling corporations on the creation of compliance programs
• Preparing and conducting the defense at trial of False Claims Act lawsuits brought by individual relators and by the United States

In such cases, our attorneys have obtained dismissal of complaints involving the alleged failure to comply with military procurement specifications, claimed hospital overcharges of Medicare and Medicaid and purported false claims related to government-owned, contractor-operated facilities.