The Supreme Court will hold oral arguments on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 in an important case brought under the False Claims Act. In October, the National Whistleblower Center filed an amicus brief in Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Carter supporting the whistleblower.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Chamber) has used this case to continue its attack on the False Claims Act and the integrity of whistleblowers. TThe Chamber filed a brief in support of the Petitioner in an attempt to convince the Supreme Court to narrow the scope of whistleblowers eligible to file cases under the False Claims Act. This brief contained a full-on assault against whistleblowers claiming that the “the vast majority of qui tam relator suits are meritless.” A claim it failed to effectively support in its brief. The Chamber’s attack is premised on a distorted view of whistleblowers, harping on derogatory stereotypes with no supporting empirical data.
The National Whistleblower Center’ vigorously opposes the position of the Chamber and fully explained to the Court how the False Claims Act is the most important tool for uncovering fraud. As explained in the National Whistleblower Center’s brief, currently 80% of the False Claims Act fraud cases filed by the government were triggered by whistleblower disclosures. By cutting off those disclosures the Chamber and its allies will radically undermine the ability of the government to police fraudulent contractors.