Craig Margolis and Christian Sheehan Talk Qui Tam FCA Provisions in Law360

White Collar Defense & Investigations partners Craig Margolis and Christian Sheehan were recently quoted in two Law360 articles covering qui tam whistleblower suits under the False Claims Act (FCA).

Margolis told Law360 that the qui tam provisions under the FCA, which are a significant enforcement tool for the federal government, “stick out like a sore thumb” in federal law due to the significant authority they grant private relators to enforce laws. He noted that even if the qui tam provisions were no longer present, there will “still be plenty of FCA enforcement.”

Sheehan commented on two pending cases that both revive the debate over the constitutionality of whistleblower FCA cases — an issue that has also recently been addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court. “What the briefing shows is that the historical record is muddled at best,” Sheehan said. “The [Supreme] Court says that you need widespread and unchallenged practice or an unbroken line of common precedent for history to inform the Constitution’s meaning, and I think that the briefing shows that that just doesn’t exist here.”

Read the Law360 articles, “Medicare Fraud Case Puts Target On Qui Tam Provisions,” and “Top Gov't Contracts Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024” (subscription required).