You Must Be the First Person to File
In order to encourage people to come forward as soon as is
practical and decrease the loss of federal funds, the law has
created a race to the courthouse. In other words, the first
person with bona fide information about a specific fraud to
file a Qui Tam action is the only Qui Tam relator (whistle-blower)
allowed in that case. If the government has already begun a
lawsuit to recover funds, there can be no Qui Tam suit arrising
out of the same scheme. While no Qui Tam action should be brought
without a thorough examination of the facts of a case by an
attorney, the law encourages early reporting of fraud.
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