When the False Claims Act was instituted in 1863, the motivations of the government were pretty…

When the False Claims Act was instituted in 1863, the
motivations of the government were pretty clear: penalize companies or people
who defraud the government. When the government enacted higher potential
rewards and easier filing procedures in 1986 and then again in 2009, the number
of whistle-blower filings exploded, with annual filings nearly doubling over
five years from 2009 to 2013. However, something else exploded as well—the
growth of serial whistle-blowers.

                Serial whistle-blowers file suit
»

When the False Claims Act was instituted in 1863, the
motivations of the government were pretty clear: penalize companies or people
who defraud the government. When the government enacted higher potential
rewards and easier filing procedures in 1986 and then again in 2009, the number
of whistle-blower filings exploded, with annual filings nearly doubling over
five years from 2009 to 2013. However, something else exploded as well—the
growth of serial whistle-blowers.

                Serial whistle-blowers file suit after suit
in the hopes of landing the “big one.” Often these are healthcare–related
cases. Since 1986, over 25 people or groups fall into this category of serial
whistle-blowers with five suits or more filed in the last two decades. The
phenomenon is also reflected in the number of frivolous lawsuits that do not
result in any settlement or judgment, which were 74 percent of suits filed from
1987 to 2010, according to the Justice Department.

                                One investigation into a
serial whistle-blower found that a physician who received $38 million, and was
praised by a federal prosecutor for this “good citizenry,” had filed 12 suits
against different laboratories with a string of allegations surrounding unfair
drug pricing practices and false performance claims. While the physician claims
that all his filings were based on “nonpublic” documents and his original
sources, many have been thrown out or abandoned because of deficient
allegations. In 2016, that same physician was due to receive another $59
million from another price-fixing allegation against a large pharmaceutical
company. However, the government continues to see value in the whistleblowing
incentives, particularly in the health-care industry. From 2009 to 2013, it
collected $12.3 billion in civil recoveries.

. Is it appropriate to file more than one whistle-blower
claim?

»