Ashcraft and Gerel, a well-respected personal injury law firm with numerous offices in the Washington, DC metropolitan area but with a nationwide practice, has launched a new informational website dedicated to Qui Tam and the Federal False Claims Act.
The Federal False Claims Act has been in existence since 1863 and was first enacted at a time when defense contractors during the Civil War were defrauding the U.S. government through excess spending, duplicate billing, and even billing the U.S. Government for non-existent goods and services.
Qui Tam, the latin term for claims under the Federal False Claims Act, allow individuals who are aware of fraudulent dealings with the United States Government (also known as “whistle blowers”) to come forward and share the information that they have as part of a civil lawsuit against the fraudulent parties on behalf of the U.S. government and a Qui Tam attorney.
In exchange, the whistle blowers are entitled to a percentage of the money recovered as a result of the lawsuit or settlement. The awards for whistle blowers can be anywhere from 15-30 percent of the funds recovered.
Since 1986 when the Reagan administration made revisions to the False Claims Act which increased whistle blower reward amounts, covered attorney fees incurred by the Plaintiff, and tripled the amount of damages that were recovered as a result of a Qui Tam False Claims Act case, over 4,000 nationwide claims have been made successfully and billions of dollars have been recovered for the US Government thanks to whistle blowers who came forward with information.
The new website, located at http://www.qui-tam-false-claims-act.com, includes valuable resources for whistle blowers who have pertinent information regarding contractors and companies who may be defrauding the United States government, such as how False Claims Act cases are filed, average award amounts for whistle blowers, signs of fraudulent activity, detailed explanations and history of Qui Tam cases under The Federal False Claims Act, and even a whistle blower’s intake form where individuals can contact the firm for a confidential consultation.
The Law Firm of Ashcraft and Gerel, who has obtained a large number of multi-million dollar settlements in the past 57 years, has been regarded as one of the Nation’s top Qui Tam law firms. They were featured in the Washington Examiner in May of 2009 following their Qui Tam lawyer recording a $128 million settlement from Network Appliance Inc in Mclean, Virginia and were identified as the “firm that has cornered the market on fraud litigation stemming from General Services Administration contracts.”
The whistle blower in that particular case earned 15% of the settlement amount, or $19.2 million.
The Qui Tam law firm hopes that the Qui-Tam-focused website will provide the necessary information for whistle blowers to become informed of how Qui Tam and the Federal False Claims Act can bring those who commit crimes against the US Government to justice and reward the individuals who come forward to make that possible.
Suite 400
2000 L Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C.20036
Telephone: (202) 783-6400
Fax: (202) 416-6392
Email: ashcraft@radix.net
