Healthcare Fraud Lawyer Blog
As a relator in a qui tam lawsuit, you are entitled to receive up to 50% of the recovered amount under the California False Claims Act (CFCA). With such a big range of recovery, however, you may be wondering just how much you are actually entitled to receive. The factors listed below, provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, help decide your overall recovery. To learn more about your chances of recovery in your particular case, contact the California qui tam attorneys at Willoughby Brod today.
Limits of Recovery
Depending on whether the government intervenes in your whistleblower suit, you may be entitled to receive different levels of compensation under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and the CFCA. The limits are as follows:
- If the government intervenes, under the FCA: 15%-25%
- If the government does not intervene, under the FCA: 25%-30%
- If the government intervenes, under the CFCA: 15%-33%
- If the government does not intervene, under the CFCA: 25%-50%
As you can see, the limits for recovery in California are slightly higher than the limits for recovery under the FCA, but they are similar.
Factors That Contribute to How Much You can Recover in a Qui Tam Lawsuit
The most common way that relator recovery amounts are determined is through an agreement between the relator and the government. However, if the relator and the government are unable to come to an agreement, the court must decide how much the relator is entitled to receive.
When the FCA was last amended, the Senate decided that the following three factors should be considered when determining how much a relator is entitled to recover in a qui tam suit:
- How significant the information provided by the relator was to the case,
- How much the relator contributed to the outcome, and
- Whether the government already knew about the information provided by the relator.
Since then, the Department of Justice has broken down those factors even further and determined that the following factors should be considered by the court in determining how much the relator can recover in a qui tam lawsuit.
- How long it took the relator to report the fraud after being made aware of it,
- Whether the relator attempted to stop the fraud from taking place, if possible,
- Whether the qui tam filing caused the offender to stop committing fraudulent acts,
- The extent of the harm exposed by the complaint,
- How detailed the relator’s report was,
- Whether the government already knew about the fraud that was reported,
- How involved the relator was during investigations,
- How involved and helpful the relator’s attorney was to the government,
- Whether the relator and their attorney cooperated with the government the entire time,
- Whether the case went to trial, and
- How big the FCA recovery was.
Contact a California Qui Tam Attorney Today
If you are aware of fraudulent conduct that you want to report, or if you simply want more information about how much you can recover in a qui tam lawsuit, contact the California Qui Tam Attorneys today. Call us at (800) 427-7020 or visit us online to schedule your free consultation today.
(image courtesy of Aidan Bartos)
