Lanzone Morgan, LLP - Medical Fraud, or "Whistleblower" Lawsuits - Qui Tam

A "whistleblower” is usually a current or former employee of a company, who reports that the company is committing fraud on the government, including Medicare.

Other people may be whistleblowers too, even if they are not employees or former employees of the company. For example, customers or anyone else who has knowledge of fraud may also be entitled to file a whistleblower lawsuit.

Our firm has had employees, former employees, nursing home residents, and families of nursing home residents report fraudulent charges to Medicare. Any of these people may file whistleblower lawsuits.

The U.S. government pays trillions of dollars each year to companies it contracts with for services and products to run government programs. American taxpayers are cheated out of billions of dollars annually when companies defraud the government in the following ways:

• Overcharging for products and services
• Charging for products or services that were never delivered or provided
• Intentionally cutting corners to provide only partial services or inferior products
• Failure to deliver goods and services for which they were paid

The Whistleblower Protection Act

Whistleblower employees who reports the fraudulent activity of their company are protected from company reprisals (wrongful termination or firing, harassment, or demotion) by the Whistleblower Protection Act.

What is the The False Claims Act?

The False Claims Act enables employees and other whistleblowers (called the "relator") to file a fraud claim with the government when they discover that their company or organization is cheating or defrauding the government.

What are "Qui Tam” lawsuits?

Fraud claims are often referred to as "qui tam," a shortened version of a Latin phrase:

"Qui tam pro domino rege quam pro se ipso"
"Who sues on behalf of the king, as well as for himself."

The whistleblower who brings a qui tam lawsuit is entitled to a percentage of the money the government recovers. Depending on the amount recovered by the government, the percentage paid to the whistleblower can be tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you know a company that is committing Medicare Fraud or fraud on the government, call Lanzone Morgan, LLP for a free consult at 888- 887-9777 or email us at yourcase@lanzonemorgan.com and find out whether you can be a whistleblower. Be careful though about telling anyone else before you consult an attorney because the first person reporting a fraud is the person who will be rewarded by the government in a successful lawsuit. If you tell someone else, and they file become a whistleblower before you do, you may not be entitled to any award.