False Claims

Legal Experience That Stands Out

Our False Claims Litigation Team has extensive experience representing whistleblowers bringing claims under the False Claims Act and has secured multi-million-dollar recoveries.

The False Claims Act is a federal statute that enables individuals (commonly referred to as “relators”) to file lawsuits on the federal government’s behalf when the government has been defrauded. Numerous states and some cities now have their own False Claims Act. Lawsuits filed under the False Claims Act are also referred to as “qui tam” lawsuits or whistleblower lawsuits. The whistleblower, or relator, is legally “standing in the shoes of the government” when he or she files the lawsuit, and is entitled to be paid from 15 to 30 percent of whatever amount the government recovers as a result of the qui tam lawsuit. The relator does not have to be personally injured by the fraud in order to file suit. The False Claims Act does require, however, that the relator has knowledge that the defendants engaged in a fraud against the federal or state government.

Who We Stand Behind

Many whistleblowers or relators are employees or former employees of companies that commit the fraud, although whistleblowers/relators have also included patients, customers, competitors, or even relatives of employees or former employees, with knowledge of the fraud against the federal or state government.

How We Take a Stand

Our comprehensive legal services include:

• Proper evaluation, forensic investigation, expert analysis of, and presentation of complex whistleblower actions
• Defense and prosecution of whistleblower claims against pharmaceutical companies for practices such as Medicare and Medicaid fraud; kickbacks to physicians, hospitals, and pharmacists to prescribe and promote their drugs; off-label marketing; providing false data or withholding data from the Food and Drug Administration to get drugs approved; and other types of pharmaceutical fraud
• Prosecution of whistleblower claims involving fraudulent “ghost” billing of government agencies for goods and services that were not delivered
• Prosecution and defense of whistleblower-reported tax fraud including underreporting income, claiming false deductions or credits, or overstating deductions or credits

We prosecute and defend whistleblower claims in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Our team includes attorneys with deep experience in all aspects of investigating and litigating these sophisticated cases and protecting whistleblowers from retaliation.