Are there any pitfalls that prevent qui tam claims under the False Claims Act from being successful?
Yes. There are many. The False Claims Act has several limitations on its scope. The law has very peculiar and specialized rules called the “public disclosure” and “original source” jurisdictional bars. (These are further explained in three subsequent questions and answers.) These are different rules from those in any other law in existence and require very special knowledge to understand. If not correctly researched and handled, a qui tam lawsuit can fail because of the public disclosure and original source provisions–even though the case accurately alleges millions of dollars of Government contracting fraud. Additionally, no qui tam actions can be based on allegations already the subject of a federal civil suit or a federal administrative civil money penalty proceeding in which the federal Government is a party. This provision eliminates any “parasitical” actions that attempt to benefit from the Government’s own independent efforts to recover losses. A variety of other False Claims A
