On July 28th, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio has stayed a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit while awaiting resolution of the constitutional challenge to the FCA in United States of America et al. v. TriHealth Inc. et al. Although the court rejected the defendant’s claim that the FCA violates Articles II and III of the Constitution, it certified the order for interlocutory appeal, noting that the case presents a legal question “to which there is substantial ground for difference of opinion.” The order was issued by Judge Douglas Russell Cole, a 2019 Trump appointee.
The qui tam provision of the False Claims Act is one of the strongest anti-corruption laws in the United States. It allows private individuals to file lawsuits against other private individuals or organizations on behalf of the federal government. Qui tam whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 15 and 30% of the government’s recovery.
TriHealth is the third in a concerning trend of cases challenging the FCA’s constitutionality. The FCA is the most powerful and effective anti-corruption law in the United States. In question is the qui tam provision, which, if nullified, would cripple one of the FCA’s most powerful tools to detect corruption and would cause the United States to lose billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to corrupt actors.
The case stems from two qui tam suits filed by whistleblowers Thomas Murphy and Dr. Set Shahbabian. The whistleblowers claimed TriHealth...
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