Arizona Attorney - March 2014

In Government’s

Shoes

The Continuing Force Behind the False Claims Act & Complaints Qui Tam

To combat fraud by contractors selling faulty war supplies to the Union Army, in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln signed into law the False Claims Act (the “FCA”). Designed to root out fraud on the federal government, 1 this act uniquely allows certain private parties—“relators”—to bring “qui tam” lawsuits in which they can sue businesses on behalf of the government and potentially reap substantial rewards for their efforts. Now 150 years old, “Lincoln’s Law” has seen multiple changes since its inception. In particular, changes in the mid- 1980s and as recently as 2010 have boosted the FCA to extraordinary relevance.