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False Claims Act, Whistleblower Litigation
“Whistle blowing” occurs when an employee notifies the government or law enforcement if their employer is breaking the law. If an employee complains of an employer’s actions to someone inside the company, this does not qualify as whistle blowing. Employees who blow the whistle on their employers are protected by law. If you tell on your company for its illegal actions and are fired or otherwise retaliated against, you can file a claim under the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA).
Blowing the whistle on your employer’s fraud, abuse, or other illegalities isn’t easy. Doing the right thing can lead to retaliation and even termination. That’s why you need the expertise of our attorneys to help you navigate the complicated landscape of federal and state whistleblower law.
Types of Cases
We are recognized for our expertise in the area of whistleblower law and for our successes on behalf of our clients, for whom we have been zealous advocates for more than three decades. We will relentlessly fight to protect you against retaliation and to make sure that the issues you stuck your neck out for receive appropriate attention. We will also fight to obtain just compensation for you, whether through pre-litigation private settlements, in the courtroom, or in other appropriate forums that provide monetary awards to whistleblowers. The types of whistleblower cases that we handle include:
- False Claims Act – Qui Tam Cases
- IRS Whistleblower Program
- SEC Whistleblower Program
- CFTC Whistleblower Program
False Claims Act
The False Claims Act is a leading source of our whistleblower cases. Federal and State False Claims Acts have been the most successful weapon in combating fraud against taxpayers. Since 1986, more than $57 billion has been recovered by federal and state governments across the United States as a result of false claims lawsuits.
Federal and State False Claims Acts prohibit any individual or business from submitting, or causing someone else to submit, to the government a false or fraudulent claim for payment. These false claims acts apply to all types of goods, services and government contracting, and have been particularly effective in combating:
- Health Care (Medicare and Medicaid) Fraud
- Hospital and Emergency Room Fraud
- Pharmaceutical Fraud
- Medicare Part D Fraud
- Defense Contracting Fraud
- Energy (Oil and Gas) Contracting Fraud
- Construction and Procurement Fraud
- Research Fraud
- Financial Industry Fraud
Incentive Programs
The False Claims Act provides whistle blower rewards of up to 25 percent of the total funds the government recovers using the whistleblower’s information. The largest recovery in a False Claims Act action is $3 billion. Successful whistleblowers can also recover attorneys’ fees.
The SEC Whistleblower Program provides whistle blower rewards of up to 30 percent of the money that the Securities & Exchange Commission recovers based on the whistleblower’s information. If they retain a whistleblower attorney to help with a retaliation claim, SEC whistleblowers are eligible to recover their attorneys’ fees.
The IRS Whistleblower Program provides incentives of up to 30 percent of the money that the Internal Revenue Service recovers in unpaid taxes as a result of the whistleblower’s tip.
How We Can Help
Federal and State False Claims Acts have been so effective in fighting fraud because they encourage ordinary citizen whistleblowers to come forward and file a lawsuit in the name of all taxpayers. These lawsuits, known as qui tam lawsuits, bring to light fraud on the government that would likely have gone undetected without the hard work and courage of whistleblowers.
The whistleblower attorneys at Savage, Turner, Pinckney, Savage, & Sprouse can help protect our clients against retaliation by companies that they blow the whistle on, and help their clients recover whistleblower rewards under available incentive programs.
