Whistleblowers

Last week, the Supreme Court issued an 8-0 decision in State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. v. United States ex rel. Rigsby, finding in favor of the whistleblowers a little more than a month after holding oral arguments. As we wrote in November, this decade-old case...

On the eve of Thanksgiving, one thing we can be thankful for is the great year that the SEC Whistleblower Program had protecting the United States markets from fraud. In its annual report to Congress, the SEC detailed several encouraging trends that it experienced in...

Oral arguments were held before the Supreme Court this week in the case of State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. U.S. ex rel. Rigsby.  The decade-old case originates from claims made by Cori and Kerrie Rigsby, sisters from Alabama, who filed a False Claims Act case...

On October 24, 2016, the Department of Justice announced a settlement with Life Care Centers of America Inc. (Life Care) and its owner, Forrest L. Preston. The defendants agreed to pay $145 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging that Life Care violated the False Claims...

Members of government agencies often ask us whether their employment by the government impacts whether they can serve as a whistleblower in a qui tam case under the False Claims Act (“FCA”)? Unfortunately, the short answer is “maybe.” Government employees can...

This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it issued an SEC whistleblower award of $22 million to an anonymous company insider who provided key information that resulted in Monsanto Company, a St. Louis-based...

The federal False Claims Act provides that when a new case is filed, there are certain rules that must be followed to keep the case confidential and to prevent the defendant from finding out that the government is conducting an investigation. The procedure, known as...

Happy National Whistleblower Appreciation Day! It’s the 238th anniversary of the first whistleblower law that was passed by the Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War.  The law’s origins stem from ten U.S. Naval officers reporting the mistreatment of...

A little over two weeks ago, the Supreme Court unanimously issued a decision in Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar that has drawn diverse reactions from the whistleblower plaintiff and defense bars as to how it will apply to future...

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced that it issued a whistleblower award of $17 million to an anonymous whistleblower.  The award is the second-largest whistleblower award since the program started five years ago.  The largest award...