Can anyone sue or be sued under the False Claims Act?
No. Generally, only a “person” as that is defined under the Act can sue or be sued. Under the False Claims Act, the term “person” includes organizations of persons, such as corporations. The types of relators are as follows: Employees: An employee who blows the whistle on his or her employer is one of the most common types of relators. Experience has shown that employees normally file qui tam actions against their employers as a last resort after repeated attempts to resolve the issues internally (very often through so-called internal “hotlines”) have met with negative results. An important provision of the 1986 amendment protects employees who file an action, or assists in furthering an action, against job retaliation by the employer. Former employees: This is another common type of whistleblower who files a qui tam action. A former employee files a qui tam action based on his or her direct knowledge of fraud on the part of their former employer. In many cases, the former employee was
