The False Claim Act was introduced during the time of Civil war, which was strengthened and revived by the Congress in the year 1986 to fight against the uncontrolled fraud of the defense contractors at the time of Cold War. The entire “qui tam” concept was brought in from a Latin word, which meant one who serves to bring every action in notice of the ruler as well as to himself.
This False Claims Act enables the private citizens to sue any company or individual that is deceiving the government and recovering fund on its behalf. With the help of qui tam lawsuits, any citizen aware of the fraudulence can file complaint against that company and demand justice.
Any instances, where the government is losing money indirectly or directly through fraudulence can become a base for qui tam lawsuit. For example, if a pharmacy switches a Medicaid or medicare beneficiary from a generic or low-priced drug to a brand or a high priced drug just to enhance their profit, you can sue the pharmacy under the act of False Claims. Because of this qui tam lawsuit, more than 9.5 billion dollars were returned to the government treasure in the year 1986.
The Work Process of Qui Tam Lawsuit:
Any individual who is aware of any fraudulence related to health, Medicaid, Medicare or any other type of cases against the government has the right to file a qui tam law suit against that company of the organization. The case is filed as “under seal”, which means that somebody else apart from the government has the right to access every detail of the case. This seal provides the government with enough time to investigate every allegation brought by the whistle blower. If the government finds that every allegation against that institution or organization correct, they would proceed with the case. The False claim Act says that seal of such cases stays for about sixty days, but with the permission of the court, this time period can be enhanced. In practice, these kinds of seals mainly last for more than three years and more. But majorly depends upon the time government takes to complete the investigation.
After the investigation, if the government decides to join the case, whistle blower would be known as the “relator” and his attorney would work as the “Department of Justice” for perusing the matter ahead. In case, the government wants to decline with the investigation, the whistle blower himself along with his attorney can move ahead and do the investigation on their own way. Qui Tam Lawsuits Attorneys can also protect the identity of the whistle blower and still fight for justice.