Phillips & Cohen no. 1 for most False Claims Act whistleblower cases – report

WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 28, 2021 – A report released today found that Phillips & Cohen LLP represented whistleblowers in more False Claims Act whistleblower cases over the past five years than any other law firm.

In the first analysis of its kind, Lex Machina’s “False Claims Litigation Report” gathered data based on 2,429 publicly available False Claims Act cases filed between 2016 and 2020 in federal district courts across the country. Lex Machina is a LexisNexis company.

The report said that Phillips & Cohen handled more “qui tam” (whistleblower) cases than any other whistleblower attorney law firm during that time.

The numbers exclude cases that were under seal and so were not publicly known. The False Claims Act requires that qui tam cases be filed under seal for at least 60 days while the government investigates. Seals are regularly extended to give the government more time.

“Whistleblowers are smart and tend to do a lot of research, looking at lawyers’ experience and success, to determine who would be the best lawyer for them in their particular situation,” said Erika Kelton, a partner and whistleblower attorney at Phillips & Cohen. “We are honored that so many have chosen Phillips & Cohen as their advocate and entrusted us with this very important work.”

In addition to filing numerous cases filed under seal that were not counted, Phillips & Cohen topped the list with 38 filed qui tam cases in 24 federal court districts.

“In such a complex and technical area of the law, the location of the law firm may be less important than finding an experienced litigator; thus, counsel in this practice area tend to appear in a large number of districts,” the report said.

Lex Machina used data from PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) to determine national trends regarding False Claims Act litigation. In addition to looking at the most active law firms in False Claims Act litigation, the report also pulled together other lists, such as the most defendants targeted in False Claims Act cases, the most active law firms representing defendants in False Claims Act cases and the federal district courts that handle the most False Claims Act cases.

The report said that the Middle District of Florida was the top venue for False Claims Act cases, with about 8% (191) of the cases filed there. The Middle District includes Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Fort Myers.

The Central District of California, where nearly 5% (116) of the cases were filed, was second. The district has the largest population in the nation and includes Los Angeles and Orange County.

“Medicare fraud has long been a huge and pervasive problem in Florida, so it’s not surprising that a Florida federal court handled more qui tam cases than any other court in the country,” said Jeffrey Dickstein, a partner in Phillips & Cohen’s Miami office. “Both as a federal prosecutor and now as an attorney representing whistleblowers, I’ve seen a wide range of healthcare fraud schemes here.”

Before joining Phillips & Cohen, Dickstein was an Assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.

For information about the False Claims Act and qui tam lawsuits, see “Qui tam lawsuits – whistleblower guide.”

 

About Phillips & Cohen

Phillips & Cohen has represented whistleblowers for 33 years and is the nation’s most successful whistleblower law firm. The firm’s cases have helped recover more than $12.8 billion and won their clients whistleblower awards totaling more than $1.1 billion. Some of Phillips & Cohen’s record-setting qui tam cases include those against GlaxoSmithKline ($3 billion settlement) and Pfizer ($2.3 billion).

Phillips & Cohen represents whistleblowers in qui tam lawsuits as well as whistleblower claims with the reward programs of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the IRS. www.phillipsandcohen.com

Let us help you.
Get a free, confidential case review