What are Qui Tam Lawsuits?

Qui tam is a provision of the Federal Civil False Claims Act that allows private citizens to file a lawsuit in the name of the U.S. Government, charging fraud by government contractors and others who receive or use government funds. Qui tam plaintiffs, also known as "relators" or "whistleblowers," share in any money recovered.

The core of a false claims case is that the government was defrauded in one form or another -- the "false claim." The law was enacted by Congress in order to effectively identify and prosecute government purchasing and program fraud, and to recover revenue lost as a result of the fraud.

The false claim may take many forms: overcharging for a product, failing to perform a service, delivering less than the promised amount of goods or services, underpaying money owed to the government, and charging for one thing but delivering another, to list a few.

The qui tam provision has had the effect of privatizing government oversight by allowing private citizens to act as "private attorneys general." Although most of the early successes in qui tam actions have been against defense contractors, today more and more actions are being filed that involve other governmental agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Department of Education (DOE), and the Veterans' Administration (VA). The total amount of money recovered under the False Claims Act since it was passed in1986 is over $12 billion. The amount of money shared with relators since 1986 totals over $1 billion.