Phillips & Cohen partner Colette Matzzie tells Bloomberg News that a DC Circuit Court Ruling in a multi-billion-dollar qui tam case against Dish Network-controlled companies is good news for whistleblowers.
“The DC Circuit’s opinion is good news for whistleblowers. The court affirmed that qui tam actions are barred only by a narrow set of administrative proceedings for ‘civil money penalties’ and not by all government agency actions in which penalties may be imposed such as, in this case, the default payments made by the defendants after the FCC licensing proceedings for spectrum licenses,” she said. “This ruling will encourage whistleblowers with knowledge of fraud directed at federal programs to come forward, assured that the qui tam case is unlikely to be dismissed because of agency actions that are not proceedings to recover civil money penalties for the alleged fraudulent conduct.”
Matzzie has been named one of the “500 Leading Lawyers in America” for the past 11 years by Lawdragon magazine based on her work representing whistleblowers.
Read the entire article, “Dish Network Must Again Face Whistleblower’s License Suit.”