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The False Claim Act also has what are called “qui tam” provisions, a mechanism in the law that encourages citizens to bring forward evidence of fraud against the government and sue on the government’s behalf. When a qui tam lawsuit is filed by a citizen, that citizen is called a whistleblower or relator. Under the qui tam provisions of the FCA, when the government joins a qui tam case the relator will be entitled to a reward of 15 percent to 25 percent of the recovered amount. If the government does not join the qui tam lawsuit, the whistleblower can receive a reward of 25 percent to 30 percent of a successful recovery.
The current False Claims Act serves as encouragement and protection for private citizens who often risk their livelihoods to bring forward any of the above false claims. The law itself has been around since the 1860s and was rejuvenated in 1986 to better police Department of Defense contract fraud. Recently, however, the FCA and most qui tam litigation has been more commonly used to fight pharmaceutical fraud.
Qui tam is short for a Latin phrase that means “he who pursued this action on our lord the King’s behalf as well as his own.” Qui tam was widely used in Europe during the middle ages, since there were no official police systems and citizens were encouraged to maintain law and order on behalf of the king. In 1863, President Lincoln adopted this concept when he enacted the False Claims Act in an effort to stop war profiteers from defrauding the Union during the Civil War. Although the False Claims Act was successful in deterring fraud against the Union, after the war the law was virtually unused. It wasn’t until 1986 that the FCA was amended, and became the law that is used today.
In the 1980s Congress estimated that the U.S. government was losing up to tens of billions of dollars in undetected fraud schemes. The government grew concerned that most of these fraudulent claims were almost impossible to detect. There simply were not enough resources available to detect these rampant abuses. In 1986, Congress revived the dormant civil-war era False Claims Act and strengthened its qui tam provisions. The amended version of the FCA allowed the private citizen to become a resource for the government in detecting fraud. By creating incentives for citizens with evidence of fraud to sue on behalf of the government, the law allowed for the policing and investigations of fraud claims without using taxpayer’s money. This partnership between the government and the whistleblower has been very powerful in fighting widespread and rampant fraud. The False Claims Act includes provisions for whistleblower protection to ensure that any whistleblowers coming forward with legitimate qui tam claims do not suffer repercussions by their employer. In addition, the Whistleblower Protection Act provides federal whistleblowers, or government employees, with certain rights in the event their employers retaliate against them for making disclosures regarding illegal or improper government activities. By representing whistleblowers in qui tam litigation under provisions of the False Claims Act, we continue our legacy of obtaining justice and holding pharmaceutical companies accountable.
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