William Verrinder filed a False Claims Act against three of America’s biggest companies—Wal-Mart, Sears and Rite-Aid—claiming they charged Medicare for expired drugs.  Since he’s a lawyer himself, he filed pro se. That way he wouldn’t have to share his recovery with another lawyer.

Sadly for William, a Massachusetts federal judge pointed out on March 3 that pro se and ex rel. don’t mix.  Why is that?  Because a person filing pro se is representing himself.  But a person filing ex rel. isn’t representing himself; he’s representing the United States.  And to represent the United States (or anyone other than yourself) you have to be an attorney admitted to practice in the court hearing the case.

That last phrase—“in the court hearing the case”—is what tripped William up.  He’s admitted to practice only in Nebraska, and the case was pending in the Massachusetts federal district court.  So on March 3 the court denied the motions William had filed to keep the case alive.  Specifically, the court refused to transfer the case to Nebraska or to appoint pro bono local counsel.

The case is U.S. ex rel. Verrinder v. Wal-Mart et al., 2015 BL 56778, No. 13-cv-11147-PBS (D. Mass. Mar. 3).