The Supreme Court will review a case that may set new limits on False Claims Act lawsuits, according to two recent articles, one by the Associated Press and another by Bloomberg.
FCA legislation allows for whistleblowers to file a lawsuit against a company for wrongly charging the government funds (the whistleblower can receive up to 30% of such funds recovered). The court will address a section of the FCA that (from the AP):
“…prohibits whistleblower lawsuits when public disclosure of the alleged fraud occurs through a court hearing, a news report or congressional or administrative audit.”
“The question for the court – one that has divided federal appeals courts – is whether the language on administrative audits refers to a report prepared by any government or only a federal government document.”
You see, the law does not allow whistleblowers to bring lawsuits (on behalf of the government) if the waste, fraud or abuse has been made public by the federal government, but the law is unclear as to whether this applies to state and local governments.
GAP will be watching how the issue plays out…
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