The False Claims Act empowers private citizens to bring claims for fraud on behalf of the United States “not unlike the bounty hunting common in the rough-and-tumble world of the mid-nineteenth century.” Private citizens who bring these cases are called “relators” and can receive up to 30 percent of the funds recovered in what are known as qui tam actions. The United States retains the right to intervene in the suit and take over for the realtor or allow the realtor to handle the matter. In this case, the Third Circuit had to determine whether the Government could oppose a relator’s action and, if it wished to seek dismissal of the action, must it intervene first. The Third Circuit ruled that the Government is required to intervene before moving to dismiss and that its motion must meet the standard of Fed.R.Civ.P. 41(a).
