Under the “qui tam” provisions of the False Claims Act (FCA), a private “relator” may bring a suit on behalf of the federal government to recover damages sustained by the government in paying false claims. An example of a false claim might be a physician’s claim for reimbursement under Medicare for services that were not actually performed. Another example might be a general contractor’s submission of a fraudulent pay application in connection with a federal construction project.

A successful relator is entitled to share in the recovery that the relator obtains on behalf of the federal government. And in these types of cases, a defendant’s exposure can be enormous.  The FCA authorizes the imposition of civil penalties ranging from $11,000 to $23,000 (give or take) per claim, plus trebled damages and attorney fees. For a defendant who is alleged to have submitted false claims over a multiyear period, these numbers can often exceed seven figures. Not to mention that defending a qui tam lawsuit can be incredibly expensive, requiring extensive discovery, multiple experts and, sometimes, retrieval of old records in outdated formats.