Court Upholds Whistleblowers' $6.9M Share of $46M False Claims Settlement

Earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the federal district court's decision that the two whistleblowers, or relators, in Rille et al v. Accenture, LLP et al, No. 11-2054 (8th Cir. 2013) were entitled to a 15% share of the federal government's $46 million False Claims Act settlement with Hewlett-Packard, amounting to a $6.9 million award to the whistleblowers.

The relators, Norman Rille and Neal Roberts, filed a <i>qui tam</i>, or whistleblower, action in 2004 against HP and other defendants on behalf of the United States, alleging that the defendants gave kickbacks to consultants in exchange for recommendations and engaged in pricing schemes that cost the federal government millions of dollars.

In 2006, the government intervened and filed its own complaint against HP and the other defendants, and eventually entered into a settlement in which the government received $55 million: $9 million from the kickback scheme and $46 million for the pricing scheme.  While the government conceded a share of the kickback settlement to the relators, it attributed the pricing settlement to its own investigation, and not the relators'.

The district court found in favor of the relators, writing that "the government had no knowledge of the defective pricing before Relators brought it to light."  The government appealed.  The Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's decision, upholding the whistleblowers' entitlement to 21% of the $9 million kickback settlement and 15% of the $46 pricing settlement.

The Chanler Group, in association with the Hirst Law Group, represents whistleblowers who take action under the False Claims Act to report fraud committed against the federal and state governments.  We have years of experience representing whistleblower clients who expose every kind of fraud against the government, including health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud.  Read more about our expertise in False Claims Act cases and how you can take action.