Bud Conyers v. United States

After the Government intervenes in a False Claims Act (“FCA”) case, is the whistleblower “relator” entitled to 15%-25% of the “proceeds of the action,” as 31 U.S.C. § 3730(d)(1) clearly states, or can the Government deprive the whistleblower of this statutory “relator’s share,” whenever it wants, by writing up a “Covered Conduct” release in a settlement agreement and then asserting that there are differences between this “Covered Conduct” and what the whistleblower alleged— even when the settlement agreement releases the whistleblower’s claims, as well? In short, can the Government unilaterally gut the whistleblower provisions at the heart of the FCA, at will, as the decision below authorizes?