Qui tam - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The American Civil War (1861–1865) was marked by fraud on all levels in the Union north and the Confederate south. Some say the False Claims Act came about because of bad mules. During the Civil War, unscrupulous early day defense contractors sold the Union Army decrepit horses and mules in ill health, faulty rifles and ammunition, and rancid rations and provisions among other unscrupulous actions.[3] The False Claims Act, passed by Congress on March 2, 1863, was an effort by the USA to respond to entrenched fraud where the official Justice Department was reticent to prosecute fraud cases. Importantly, a reward was offered in what is called the 'qui tam' provision, which permits citizens to sue on behalf of the government and be paid a percentage of the recovery.
The False Claims Act provides incentive to relators by granting them between 15% and 25% of any award or settlement amount. In addition, the statute provides an award of the relator's attorney's fees, making qui tam actions a popular topic for the plaintiff's bar. An individual bringing suit pro se, that is, without the representation of a lawyer, may not bring a qui tam action under the False Claims Act. See, for example, United States ex Rel. Lu v. Ou, 368 F.3d 773 (7th Cir. 2004)."
