REWARDS AND FEES

How much are attorney fees for help filing a whistleblower lawsuit?  None. Kline & Specter will
handle qui tam lawsuits on a contingency basis. The firm gets paid nothing up front. It receives a
percentage of a reward plus expenses if – and only if – a suit is successful. If a whistleblower does
not receive a reward, neither does the firm receive any remuneration, not even for expenses it may
have incurred.

How much of a reward can I get? Federal law provides for a reward of 15-25 percent when the
government gets involved in a case and more, up to 30 percent, when a citizen goes it alone. The
amount a whistleblower receives is based on how much he or she actually contributes to the case.
Often the amount is negotiated between government lawyers and the lawyer(s) representing the
whistleblower, another reason for getting representation.

Where must a whistleblower’s information come from? Those filing qui tam lawsuits on the
government’s behalf are expected to have independent knowledge of a fraud. In other words,
the information cannot come from other sources or public documents but the relator -- the name
given to a citizen who files a whistleblower lawsuit -- must be an “original source” of the
information. The source is expected to have reported the fraud to the government before filing
a lawsuit.