By Curt Schroder
Executive Director, PA Coalition of Civil Justice Reform
The plaintiffs’ bar is working overtime to convince the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass a state False Claims Act, or FCA, arguing that it will raise revenue to help close the revenue gap preventing passage of a state budget. But the Legislature should not fall for this dubious (and self-interested) claim by the trial lawyers as it is one of the many false hopes promised by the proposed legislation.
The federal FCA was enacted in 1982. It provides that any person who knowingly submits or causes to submit false claims to the government is liable for three times the government’s damages, plus exorbitant penalties of more than $27,000 per claim.
In addition to allowing the United States to pursue perpetrators of false claims on its own, the federal FCA allows disgruntled and former employees acting as bounty hunters to file suits on behalf of the government — called qui tam actions — against those who submitted the claims at issue. Those who successfully bring qui tam actions may recover a substantial portion of the government’s recovery, among other remedies.
In July, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed HB 1697, which would establish a state FCA. Medicaid is by far the largest area of recovery under a FCA. Yet Pennsylvania already receives its share of Medicaid recoveries under the federal FCA. The established federal law provides a robust mechanism to recover improperly spent...
By Curt Schroder Executive Director, PA Coalition of Civil Justice Reform The plaintiffs’ bar is working overtime to convince the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass a state False Claims Act, or...