False Claims Act

THIS CASEBOOK contains a selection of U. S. Court of Appeals decisions that analyze, discuss and interpret provisions of the False Claims Act. * * * Originally signed into law during the Civil War by President Abraham Lincoln, the False Claims Act exposes those who commit fraud against the federal government to treble damages and civil penalties, both of which "are essentially punitive in nature." Vt. Agency of Nat. Res. v. United States ex rel. Stevens, 529 U.S. 765, 768-69, 784, 120 S.Ct. 1858, 146 L.Ed.2d 836 (2000). The statute's qui tam provisions allow private plaintiffs - often called "relators" - to bring a civil action to recover damages and civil penalties "for the person and for the United States Government," though any such action is "brought in the name of the Government." Kelly, 9 F.3d at 745-46 (quoting 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(1)). The Government may choose to take over the litigation, 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(2), but the relator otherwise "ha[s] the right to conduct the action" alone, id. § 3730(c)(3). American Bankers Management Company v. Heryford, 885 F. 3d 629 (9th Cir. 2018).* * * If successful, relators conducting actions themselves generally receive between twenty-five and thirty percent of any recovery in the action. See 31 U.S.C. § 3730(d)(2)-(3). This means that the dollar amount of qui tam relators' compensation for independently litigating enforcement actions is not fixed by law. Rather, it depends on there being a recovery - and the compensation increases as the damages and civil penalties increase. If there is no recovery, relators come out worse than empty handed because they bear the costs they incurred during the litigation. American Bankers, ibid.