Justice Department Considering Using False Claims Act to Recover Losses in Deepwater Horizon Disaster
FCA Legal Actions Could Result in BP Paying Treble Damages To United States Taxpayers
Washington, D.C. July 26, 2010. Assistant Attorney General Tony West confirmed that the U.S. Department of Justice was "considering all avenues of redress against the potentially responsible parties," according to a letter released today by the National Whistleblower Center. The letter specifically mentions the False Claims Act ("FCA"). The letter is in response to a letter from NWC urging the government to use the FCA to hold responsible parties accountable for losses suffered by the taxpayers as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
In a letter to the Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center, Assistant Attorney General West praised the "important contributions" of whistleblowers (referred to as "relators under the FCA) "in assisting the United States" in recovering "taxpayer funds." West stated:
This public-private partnership has proved a successful tool for the recovery of public funds and for rewarding relators who bring allegations of fraud to the government. Indeed, since January 2009 more then $3.6 billion was obtained under the Act's qui tam provisions, and relators were awarded more than $497 million for their efforts in helping government pursue these recoveries.
The FCA was originally signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, and was recently strengthened by Congress in 2009 and 2010. The law covers corporations that obtain oil and gas leases from the United States, and provides for the payment of treble damages if a company violates the FCA. Qualified whistleblowers that provide original information concerning such violations are entitled to mandatory monetary rewards between 15% and 30% of any monies recovered by the United States pursuant to an FCA case.
Stephen M. Kohn, the Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center praised Assistant Attorney General West's response:
It is not enough to simply slap BP on the wrist by making them pay fine and clean up costs. BP owes U.S. taxpayers treble damages, and they must be made to pay up.
The FCA is powerful tool, protecting and rewarding employees who expose violations of environmental law and government lease agreements. Under the FCA, every corporation involved in drilling under a federal government lease can be held accountable to the taxpayers for treble damages if they violate the terms of those leases or if they made false statements to obtain a lease. This liability stretches beyond the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Workers, who risk their jobs and careers to expose violations of leasing obligations, including violations of safety and environmental standards, are entitled to significant monetary rewards if their claims are covered under the FCA. We are encouraged that the Justice Department is considering using the FCA as one of its legal tools for protecting Americans from economic and environmental disaster in the Gulf Coast.
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first approached the law firm of Kohn, Kohn, and Colapinto to represent me in my attempts to address the problems at the FBI crime lab, we were a nation in denial. Whistleblowers had a history of being dealt with brutally. And today the same brutality is evident in every whistleblower case the law firm and the NWC handles. Today I look at the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as countless lives and resources are destroyed and know that somewhere in that group of people who brought this disaster on our nation, there were potential whistleblowers who said to themselves that the risks of blowing the whistle on BP malpractices were just not worth the dangers to themselves and their families. After all, this nation cares little for the rights and protections of individuals who would proactively stop such disasters. This lack of concern is reflected in the actions of our Congressmen and Senators, some of whom have labored hard and diligently to establish whistleblower protections while most ignore obvious safeguards for our nation, our citizens and our natural resources. If we do not wake up in the face of this, the worst environmental disaster in history created by lax standards by the British Petroleum Corporation, then we deserve what we get. 
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