False Claims Act
You may be wondering, “Is my Qui Tam Case Too Small to pursue?” The answer is probably no, not just because of its size. This does not mean that the amount of potential damages is irrelevant. Every lawyer will (or should) do a cost-benefit analysis before taking a case, and the Government certainly will do so when its lawyers are making intervention decisions on False Claims Act (FCA) matters. After all, you cannot rationally spend more money litigating a case than you are likely to recover in damages. But, generally the most important thing is whether the case’s allegations are meritorious and provable. Additionally, if you have a whistleblower retaliation component to your case, that might also tip the balance in favor of commencing a lawsuit.
Therefore, while it is true that Relators’ Counsel are often more willing to take an “iffy” case if the upside is quite substantial, you still should be able to find an experienced and capable lawyer to take a small damages case, provided the theory of liability is straightforward and there is strong evidence that can be readily obtained. Although the $100 million or even billion dollar qui tam FCA cases garner the most media coverage, there are actually many FCA cases that get resolved for somewhere between $100,000 and $1 million.