Understanding Qui Tam Litigation under the federal False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act 2025

MCLE Credit: 2.0 (Ethics: 0.0)
Live-Interactive Credit: 0.0
Price: $149 (Includes a downloadable audio version.)
Viewable Through: 01/31/2028

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$149.00 (or 2 Bundle Credits)

A pre-recorded streaming VIDEO replay of the January 2025 webcast, Understanding Qui Tam Litigation under the federal False Claims Act and the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act 2025.

In the 162 years of its existence, the federal False Claims Act (FCA) has become the single most important tool used to stop those who would defraud government programs.  Since 1986—when the law was substantially revamped and modernized—the United States has recovered more than $75 billion, with nearly $5 billion of that being recovered in the last four years.

The federal government’s success in recovering for fraudulent claims under the FCA caused the states to take notice, and, in 2002 Virginia became one of the first states to enact a state FCA statute when the General Assembly passed the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (VFATA).  Broadly speaking, the FCA and VFATA both make seven defined categories of behavior illegal and impose treble damages, civil penalties, attorney’s fees, and costs on those who violate the law.  Damages in these cases recoverable by private parties can be significant depending upon the type of fraud.  Successfully prosecuted claims filed by whistleblowers under the Virginia Whistleblower Law can receive 15–25% of the state’s recovery.  In cases prosecuted by the whistleblower on their own with private counsel, the recovery can could be 25–30% of the award.

The real power of the statute, however, is found in its qui tam provisions, which empower any “person” with non-public knowledge of false claims on the government to retain private counsel and bring a whistleblower claim on behalf of the United States or the Commonwealth of Virginia or both.  Thus, the statutes essentially empower lawyers in private practice (and their clients who have knowledge of fraud on the government) to become an important “force multiplier” supporting the efforts of both federal and state law enforcement.

Simply put, government now plays a larger role in our daily lives than ever before.  As a result, practitioners with clients in areas as diverse as health care, government contracting, construction, banking, and many more will find this seminar to be useful.  The program begins with an overview of both state and federal statutes and includes a summary of important recent decisions. Attendees also learn about the somewhat mysterious process of initiating a qui tam action and how to avoid the numerous procedural pitfalls that await the unwary.