Whistleblower First-to-File Rule May Apply even if No Other Suit Pending
The United States Circuit Court for the District of Columbia recently weighed in on the Whistleblower statute’s (False Claim Act’s) first-to-file rule as it applies to a whistleblower filing a second complaint in the case of Shea v. Cellco Partnership. The court issued a ruling on April 11, 2014 and its ruling has created some controversy.
In Shea, Stephen Shea filed a...
Whistleblower Waited Too Long to Amend Suit
In Wilson v. Bristol-Myers Squibb, the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court opinion that a whistleblower (relator) waited too long to file an amended suit. In this case, Wilson filed a complaint in the Central District of California under seal and then filed an amended complaint in October 2006, which alleged that...
Whistleblower Must be First to File
As a general rule, for a whistleblower to recover in a False Claims Act case, he or she must be the first to file suit. This is a statutory requirement pursuant to 31 U.S.C. Section 3737(b)(5). Furthermore, there are a few policy reasons typically cited that support the law. First, the government wants to give incentives to whistleblowers to come forward quickly....