A new Supreme Court ruling seems to throw a wrench into the False Claims Act, in particular the “qui tam” cases where a whistleblower stands to benefit from revealing false claims. It gives the Justice Department greater authority to toss out certain cases. For analysis, Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke with whistleblower attorney Steve Kohn of Kohn, Kohn Colapinto.
Interview Transcript:
Tom Temin What precisely did the court rule here? And maybe tell us a little bit about the case?
Steven Kohn Sure. So the false claims, qui tam is a unique type of law because it, lets say, whistleblower stand in for the federal government to protect the government from fraud. So the whistleblower can initiate a case and pursue a case against a fraudster, even if the federal government doesn’t get involved. It’s a historic procedure, goes all the way back to the Middle Ages. It was used extensively in the colonies, and I think the first Congress of America passed 15 of these qui tam type laws. So that’s the issue. But the issue was if the Justice Department, if the United States wants to throw the case out, what are the rights of the whistleblower? And at the bottom line, it’s government money. So the whistleblower is trying to protect the government. But what happens if the government says we don’t want that protection? We want the case dismissed? That was what was before the Supreme Court.
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