Civil False Claims and Qui Tam Actions is an essential tool for litigating or defending against civil False Claims Act actions or investigations. This Sixth Edition, two-volume treatise provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of FCA enforcement and litigation, including an in-depth analysis of the statute’s history, a circuit-by-circuit focus on the key liability and damages/penalties provisions, a detailed description of the law and procedures relevant to the statute’s unique qui tam provisions, and in-depth analysis of FCA practice and procedure relevant to FCA investigations, litigation, and settlement. The treatise also devotes a chapter to state false claims enforcement, including key decisions on state laws, along with an Appendix summarizing the relevant state statutes.
Civil False Claims and Qui Tam Actions, frequently cited by the courts, equips practitioners with the essentials for modern day FCA practice, including:
- Detailed analysis of the FCA’s liability provisions, including the history of the Act, and variances among Circuits in applying those provisions.
- The roles and perspectives of parties involved in FCA investigations and litigation, including relators, defendants, and the government.
- Damages and statutory penalties under the FCA.
- The instruments available to the government to investigate potential FCA violations, including Civil Investigative Demands.
- The issues arising under the unique qui tam provisions of the FCA, including procedural requirements for bringing qui tam suits, the government’s duties to investigate qui tam allegations, the government’s intervention decision, the government’s statutory dismissal authority, statutory bars to certain qui tam actions including the “public disclosure,” “first-to-file,” and “government action” bars, and personal claims by plaintiffs under the FCA’s retaliation provision.
- Practice and procedure in FCA matters, including disclosure obligations, investigations, insurance coverage, motions practice, discovery considerations, trial strategy, and settlement of FCA suits.
- Analysis of state false claims laws.
- FCA enforcement and litigation trends.
Co-authors Douglas W. Baruch and Jennifer M. Wollenberg are litigation partners and leaders in the False Claims Act practice group at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. The authors have more than 50 years of combined experience handling federal and state FCA investigations and litigation and draw on their experience to provide clear and straightforward expert analysis of the statute, enforcement, and recent developments of importance to current FCA practice, including Justice Department enforcement priorities, ongoing constitutionality questions, and qui tam suit trends.
With annual federal FCA recoveries alone averaging $3 billion over the past 10 years, modern False Claims Act enforcement and litigation impacts business activity well beyond government contractors and Medicare providers who were initial enforcement targets. The Justice Department, along with qui tam relators, constantly are testing the boundaries of FCA enforcement and reaching to impose liability on all manner of companies and industries having any connection to the government fisc. The statute’s lengthy limitations period, treble damages provision, mandatory per claim penalties, and the potential for sizeable relator-share awards make this statute a favored Government enforcement tool and provide powerful incentives to relators and the plaintiffs’ bar to pursue FCA cases.
The Sixth Edition is a go-to, reliable resource for today’s FCA practitioner.
