False Claims Act

The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. §§ 3729–3733, also called the "Lincoln Law") is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs. The law includes a "qui tam" provision that allows people who are not affiliated with the government to file actions on behalf of the government (informally called "whistleblowing"). Persons filing under the Act stand to receive a portion (usually about 15–25 percent) of any recovered damages. Claims under the law have typically involved health care, military, or other government spending programs, and dominate the list of largest pharmaceutical settlements. The government has recovered nearly $22 billion under the False Claims Act between 1987 (after the significant 1986 amendments) and 2008.

Read more about False Claims Act:  History, Provisions, 1986 Changes, 2009 Changes, 2010 Changes Under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Practical Application of The Law, Relevant Decisions By The United States Supreme Court, State False Claims Acts and Application in Other Jurisdictions, Rule 9(b) Circuit Split, ACLU Et Al. V. Holder, Examples

Famous quotes containing the words false, claims and/or act:

    “I started in to cry and call his name,

    Asking forgiveness of his tongueless head.
    . . . I dreamt the past was never past redeeming:
    But whether this was false or honest dreaming
    I beg death’s pardon now. And mourn the dead.”
    —Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)

    “When a man says that he is Jesus or Napoleon, or that the Martians are after him, or claims something else that seems outrageous to common sense, he is labeled psychotic and locked up in a madhouse. Freedom of speech is only for normal people.”
    —Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)

    “And this must be the prime of life . . . I blink,
    As if at pain; for it is pain, to think
    This pantomime
    Of compensating act and counter-act,
    Defeat and counterfeit, makes up, in fact,
    My ablest time.”
    —Philip Larkin (1922–1986)