Editor’s note: This is the second article in a two-part series discussing North Carolina’s False Claims Act. The first article discussed the Federal False Claims Act and its state counterpart as passed by the legislature in North Carolina.
North Carolina’s False Claims Act has a more stringent “first-to-file” provision than its federal counterpart. The federal False Claims Act’s first-to-file provision is intended to prevent potential relators from filing parasitic suits based on the same allegations that underlie an already pending qui tam suit. Thus, under the federal FCA, when a relator brings a qui tam action, only the government may intervene or bring a related action on facts underlying that qui tam action.
