January 08, 2008
The New Jersey Senate has passed a state False Claims Act, according to a January 7, 2008 article at PolitickerNJ.com.
The bill, sponsored by Senators John H. Adler and Joseph F. Vitale, will now go to the state Assembly.
The proposed law would allow private individuals in New Jersey to bring an action, either by themselves or working with the State Attorney General, against any person who knowingly causes the State to pay a false claim. The bill provides for civil penalties, between $5,000 and $10,000, for each verified count of a false claim, and imposes damages of up to three times the cost of any losses the public entity would have sustained because of the false claim.