Multiple Whistleblowers and First-to-File

Supreme Court in Carter Decision Narrows Scope of Whistleblower First-To-File Bar

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Under the False Claims Act's so-called first-to-file rule, a whistleblower may not bring a qui tam action "based on the facts underlying [a] pending action."  There has always been some uncertainty as to how far this whistleblower bar extends -- whether it applies only when the related claims of the "pending" action remain live, or whether it blocks those claims in...

First Circuit Weighs In On Scope Of False Claims Act "First-To-File" Bar

By Gordon Schnell Under the so-called "first-to-file" rule, a whistleblower is precluded from bringing a False Claims Act case if one based on the same underlying facts is already pending. This pressure to be first to the courthouse forces whistleblowers to make a tradeoff between the speed and quality of their False Claims Act filing. In United States ex rel. Sun v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., the First Circuit...

DC Circuit Creates Split on Scope of First-to-File Rule Under False Claims Act

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Under the so-called first-to-file rule, “[w]hen a person brings an action under the False Claims Act, no person other than the Government may intervene or bring a related action based on the facts underlying the pending action.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5). The rule serves two primary purposes. It encourages whistleblowers with allegations of fraud to come forward as quickly as...