I am a fan of the American court system. There is no natural law requiring people to resolve their differences by asking third parties to represent them and advocate on their behalf in front of impartial decision-makers. The folks in classical Athens and Rome thought it was a good idea, the Europeans rediscovered the practice
qui tam
The Difference Between Fraud And Mistake Under The False Claims Act
The False Claim Act envisions a broad definition under 31 U.S.C. § 3729(b) for when a defendant “knowingly” makes a false or fraudulent claim to the federal government:
(b) Knowing and Knowingly Defined.— For purposes of this section, the terms “knowing” and “knowingly” mean that a person, with respect to information—
(1) has actual knowledge
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False Claims Act Lawsuit Against Oracle For Overcharging On GSA Contracts Unsealed
At Business Week, it seems Oracle isn’t living up to its namesake:
Oracle Corp., the world’s second- biggest software maker, faces a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower and the U.S. Justice Department claiming it overcharged the government by tens of millions of dollars.
As the Complaint summarizes,
This lawsuit is based on a
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More False Claims Act Smoke And Mirrors To Deny Whistleblower Awards
Via the WSJ Law Blog, Amy Kolz at The American Lawyer has a new article about the False Claims Act:
"[FCA cases] are a big gamble," says Piacentile’s counsel, former Boies, Schiller & Flexner partner David Stone of Stone & Magnanini, who cites cost-benefit analyses and good relationships with prosecutors as essential to his
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Four States Join False Claims Act Whistleblower Suit Over Substandard PVC Pipes
As The Recorder reported,
Four states and dozens of California cities and water districts have joined a qui tam lawsuit, unveiled this week, seeking millions of dollars in damages against a company for allegedly supplying customers with substandard PVC pipe.
The suit, brought against J-M Manufacturing Co. and its former parent company, Formosa Plastics
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E.D.Pa. Holds False Claims Act Relator Cannot Toll Statute Of Limitations If Government Did Not Intervene
Another interesting statutory construction case arising from allegations scientists at Cornell University Medical College and Thomas Jefferson University "misrepresented the findings of their DNA research when they applied for National Institute of Health research grants and did not correct the misrepresentations on subsequent progress reports and renewal applications." Problem is, the grants in question were…
Issues and Briefs in the Major Business Cases in the Supreme Court’s 2009-2010 Term
Business Week points us to the major cases.
As Litigation & Trial is a legal, rather than a business, blog, I’m going to take their list of cases but replace their description of each with the actual legal issue at stake, along with links to SCOTUSWiki, which hosts all of the relevant briefs for…
“The Boy Who Heard Too Much” – An Incredible Social Engineering Story
At Rolling Stone:
Weigman’s auditory skills had always been central to his exploits, the means by which he manipulated the phone system. Now he gave Lynd a first-hand display of his powers. At one point during the visit, Lynd’s cellphone rang. "I can’t talk to you right now," the agent told the caller. "I’m
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Why False Claims Act Whistleblower Cases Need Awards Over $50 Million
Via @walterolson, CQ Politics reported yesterday:
The Senate rejected a bid Thursday to impose new limits on whistleblower awards as it moved toward passage of legislation to beef up the government’s ability to combat financial fraud.
By 31-61, the Senate rejected an amendment by Jon Kyl , R-Ariz., that sought to set a $50
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