Whistleblower Evidence

Top-10 Tips For Would-Be Whistleblowers

There are numerous laws that protect whistleblowers. Many whistleblower reward laws and other whistleblower protection laws provide protections to whistleblowers from retaliation – through firings, demotions, or other adverse employee actions – for reporting misconduct. Becoming a whistleblower can be a difficult ordeal. The laws protecting whistleblowers have vastly improved. But the risk of retaliation or some form of estrangement, alienation, or even blacklisting remains very real. A whistleblower may...

Copying Documents to Support Your Claims: Make Sure You're on the Right Side of the Law

By Eric Havian Copying your employer’s documents to support a lawsuit can result in a significant reward – or land you in a New Jersey jail.  On June 23, 2015, the New Jersey Supreme Court decided State v. Saavedra (No. A-86-13, June 23, 2015), refusing to dismiss a criminal indictment against an employee who copied documents of her employer to further an employment discrimination case.   On the same day, a...

Whistleblowers Beware Of What Company Documents You Take To Support Your Qui Tam Case.

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team A cautionary note for would-be whistleblowers. When it comes to internal company documents that reveal fraud or misconduct, you may assume you have broad license to take them and use them to support your potential False Claims Act case. You do not. As made clear in last week's Eastern District of Pennsylvania decision Notorfransesco v. Surgical Monitoring Assoc., it all depends on the surrounding...

Court Approves Statistical Sampling in False Claims Act Cases

By Jason Enzler A district court has upheld the use of statistical sampling in a False Claims Act case. As the court discussed in its decision, the use of sampling in False Claims Act litigation is not new. But it generally has been limited to establishing damages or to cases where the use of sampling is not contested. In United States ex rel. Martin v. Life Care Centers of America,...

DC Circuit In KBR Whistleblower Case Tightens Attorney-Client Shield for Internal Investigations

By Gordon Schnell In a shot heard round the business world, a DC district court judge in March denied attorney-client privilege protection to documents prepared in connection with an internal company investigation. The judge found the privilege did not apply because the investigation was mandated by government regulation and not simply an exercise in company discretion. The DC Circuit last week -- in In re: Kellogg Brown & Root --...