Whistleblower

There’s a Web site about whistleblower/qui tam lawsuits, at http://www.whistleblower-qui-tam.com/pages/qui-tam-history.html, that explains the history of those actions (in the U.S., the False Claims Act was Lincoln’s idea during the Civil War) and that provides information and attorneys who can represent whistleblowers.

The latest results from Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.'s Litigation Trends Survey are in and corporate counsel say they expect litigation to swell in the coming year. The survey reports that 42 percent of U.S. respondents are anticipating an increase in legal disputes their companies will face in the next 12 months.

A number of federal and state laws have been enacted to offer whistleblowers some degree of protection. For example, the Whistle Blower Protection Act, 5 U.S.C. §2302, protects federal employees from retaliation for reporting unlawful activity.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc. have agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products, the DOJ announced today.

The state of New York and New York City have agreed to pay $540 million to settle allegations that they knowingly submitted, or caused to be submitted, false claims for reimbursement for school-based health care services, primarily speech therapy and transportation, provided to Medicaid eligible children from 1990 to 2001, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The settlement is a record federal recovery by the Justice Department for the Medicaid Program.

Tamarah Grimes, a former member of the team that prosecuted Alabama Governor Don Siegelman for bribery and a self-described whistleblower, has been terminated by the U.S. Department of Justice. The government has stated that the whistleblower disclosures were unrelated to her termination.