(112) The dramatic recoveries obtained by the federal government in
qui tam suits further indicate the importance of this area of law to the government's continuing ability to combat fraud.
When a private person's interest is insufficient to meet the requirements for Article III standing, he may still have standing through the statute under which he brought the action if it is a
qui tam statute.
In the 2013 fiscal year, the DOJ paid out $345 million under the FCA, from the $3.8 billion collected, of which $2.9 billion was as a result of
qui tam lawsuits ("Justice Department Recovers $3.8 Billion from False Claims Act Cases in Fiscal Year 2013," DOJ Office of Public Affairs, Dec.
"There is more to it, however, because the Court in Stevens made it clear that an informer in a
qui tam action may have standing through 'the doctrine that the assignee of a claim has standing to assert the injury in fact suffered by the assignor.' Id.
The first is the court-centric
qui tam mechanism embodied in the False Claims Act.
As a partial assignee, the ALF entity would become a co-relator, a co-party in interest, and a potential co-plaintiff in the
qui tam suit.
A private relator begins a
qui tam suit on behalf of the state by notifying the attorney general and the chief financial officer of the alleged misconduct and disclosing "all material evidence and information the person possesses" regarding the violation.
That return reported the
qui tam award as ordinary income and approximately $9.1 million in legal fees as Schedule A miscellaneous itemized deductions, but it failed to report the statutory attorneys' fee award as income.
Actions brought by whistleblowers are commonly referred to as
qui tam cases.
analysis is costly and may quickly swamp a
qui tam plaintiffs expected
The motivating force behind the False Claims Act is its provision for
qui tam enforcement, which authorizes private parties to initiate FCA cases on behalf of the United States.
Allen and Zeszotarski said that this was not a
qui tam action by a private relator, but a direct claim by the government.