If you work in any industry that receives federal funding from the government and you are aware of fraud, you can become a whistleblower in Qui Tam action. The whistleblower attorneys at the Philadelphia, PA law firm of The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers, understand that Qui Tam actions arise from government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Our whistleblower lawyers know that government regulations set minimum standards for health and safety, exist in order to help the American people and ensure they experience a high quality of life, no for greedy people to defraud those same funds. However, sometimes private companies take advantage of these programs or refuse to comply with standards set by federal law. This is fraud, and there are both criminal and civil penalties for committing fraud against the United States government.
If you know of a company or individual who is committing or has previously committed fraud against the government, you have the right to file a lawsuit on behalf of the United States government. This is called a “qui tam” action, more informally called “whistleblowing,” and it is authorized by the False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq.). There is no requirement that you must have been personally harmed in order to bring a qui tam action; you only need knowledge and information about the fraud against the government that is not publically known. Examples of fraud against the government include:
- Medicare fraud, where a healthcare provider is billing Medicare more than it should be for a service, double-billing for services that were only provided once, or billing for services never rendered;
- Intentional violations of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act; and
- Falsely marking that a good is “patented” when it has not been properly approved under the Patent Act, or its patent has expired.
When you need a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or New Jersey personal injury attorney to represent you in a qui tam action, contact The Levin Firm Personal Injury Lawyers, who represent every client zealously in order to obtain the best results possible in each case.