Whistleblower Qui Tam Law Attorneys
To contact attorney Steven Goren call
(800) 670-0529 ext. 3010
If you are aware of fraud against the United States government, at your company, university or even at another business or university, you may be entitled to collect a reward of 15% to 30% of the total amount of the fraudulent billings recovered by the government.
Qui tam is a provision of the Federal Civil False Claims Act which allows ordinary private citizens to act as attorney generals and file lawsuits on behalf of the United States government. Qui tam comes from a longer Latin phrase which, roughly translated, means: “he who is suing for the sovereign and for himself.”
In 1986, Congress amended the law to make it easier and more profitable for whistleblowers to bring claims and to increase the financial consequences to the companies implicated. Since the 1986 amendments, there have been thousands of successful Qui Tam claims and courts have awarded over $1 billion dollars in damages to the persons who have brought the fraud to the government’s attention.
Coming forward to expose fraud is in the public good. The current qui tam provision was designed not only to reward the whistleblower monetarily, but also goes to great lengths to protect the whistleblower from retaliation by his or her company.
Up to now, the two most common areas for Qui Tam lawsuits have been in Medicare payments, and in defense contracts.
Simplified to its essential elements, and ignoring some of the more obscure types of Qui Tam claims, Qui Tam requires:
- A payment made by the U.S. Government;
- Fraud in the claim for payment (i.e. nothing should have been paid, or too much was paid for the quality or quantity of the goods or services received by the government);
- The fraud was not public or being investigated by the government (i.e. the person bringing the claim is the original source for the government’s fraud investigation);
- The person bringing the claim is not personally responsible for criminal fraud (but it is common for the person’s employer to be the entity engaging in criminal fraud); and
- The fraud claim cannot be related to tax matters. Fraud against the IRS is outside the reach of Qui Tam fraud claims.
If you believe you many have a claim under the qui tam provision of the Federal False Claims Act, contact Ohio qui tam lawyer Steven E. Goren at Goren, Goren & Harris toll free at (888) 554-6736 ext. 3010 for a free, confidential consultation.
