What is Qui Tam?
Qui Tam (“He who sues on behalf of the king as well as for himself”) is a provision of the Federal Civil False Claims Act that allows a private citizen to file a suit in the name of the U.S. Government charging fraud by government contractors or other entities who receive or use government funds, and share in any money recovered.
Examples of cases we have worked on:
- Northrup Defense Systems Division paid $135 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit for engaging in systemic fraud and concealment in its accounting for materials and costs for its electronic countermeasures for military aircraft.
- MCI, Sprint, and AT&T paid a total of $35.5 million to settle three separate qui tam lawsuits for overcharging the U.S. Government for telecommunications services.
- Horizon West Healthcare paid $16 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit for making false claims to the Medicare program.
- TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp paid a total of $10 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit for overcharging the U.S. Government for failing to pass on negotiated discounts with service providers.
- San Mateo County Medical Center paid a total of $ 6.8 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit for making false claims to the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
- Endress + Hauser Systems & Gauging Division (aka: Coggins Systems, Inc.) paid a total of $4.5 million in cash and software and services to the government to settle a qui tam lawsuit for mischarging labor costs incurred on a DOD development effort.
- Sequel Contractors, Inc. and JHTM & Associates, along with several individual defendants, paid a total of $2.5 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit for submitting inflated billings on pavement repairs and maintenance contracts at John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California.
- Precision Metals, Inc. paid $2 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit for providing the U.S. Postal Service with nonconforming and defective products.
- Litton Industries paid about $2 million to settle a qui tam lawsuit for testing irregularities on its military contracts.
- Temperform USA paid a total of $600,000 to settle a qui tam lawsuit for selling improperly heat treat, testing and inspecting parts to the Department of Defense in violation of military specifications.