The Whistleblower & Anti-Fraud Blog
Despite whistleblower claims, federal agency insists it wasn’t defrauded
Guardrail spears driver’s side door of car in Gurnee, IL, in 2013. Harman alleged that the crash involved Trinity’s ET-Plus guardrail.
The anti-fraud bar is focused on the upcoming oral argument in the appeal of the trial verdict in United States ex rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries Inc., calendared for Dec. 7, 2016, before the Fifth Circuit. The $663 million verdict — the largest in the history of the federal False Claims Act — raises questions going to heart of the False Claims Act’s qui tam (whistleblower) provisions. Those provisions enable private parties who have evidence of fraud against the government to bring civil lawsuits for the recovery of damages on the government’s behalf. Successful qui tam whistleblowers receive bounties of 15-30% of what the government receives.