On Tuesday a federal court in Illinois awarded fees of $200,000 to attorneys for a whistleblower in a False Claims Act action. Not impressed? Well, consider this: the whistleblower got a little less than $30,000. Figured on a contingency basis, that’s an 87% fee.
As usual, there’s more to it than these few figures. Back in early 2006 the whistleblower filed a qui tam suit against 17 defendants alleging violations, including retaliation, of the Anti-Kickback Statute, federal and state False Claims Acts, and state common law. The defendants paid the federal government and Illinois $117,000 and $25,000, respectively. The whistleblower’s $30,000 came out of those amounts. So not only were the attorneys successful; they worked on the case for eight and a half years.
The case is U.S. ex rel. Hernandez v. Therapy Providers, 1:06-cv-00760 (N.D. Ill).
