Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act

The Ohio False Claims Act is Introduced…

Other than the changes to the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act and the Illinois False Claims Act, the 2011 legislative session has been rather uneventful in terms of state false claims act legislation.  However, in some late-breaking news from Ohio, Senate […]

Two Major–and Historic–Events in the Past Seven Days…

In the last seven days, two major historic events occurred.  Although very few Virginians paid attention or cared, we will all notice the benefit bestowed on our Commonwealth by these two events…On Saturday, March 26th, Governor Bob McDonnell signed groundbreaking amendments to […]

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit Issues Opinion in ACLU et al. v. Eric H. Holder, et al.

After several months of waiting, today the Fourth Circuit issued its 

The Supreme Court of Virginia Grants Appeal in Cuccinelli v. UVa

Yesterday, SCOVA announced that it had granted the Attorney General’s appeal  from a ruling quashing
the AG”s civil investigative demand to the University of Virginia. As readers are aware, the Order was entered by Judge Peatross in the Circuit Court of Albemarle County.

The following are the assignments of error:

  1. The circuit court erred in setting aside the CIDs based on the ground that the Attorney General lacked a “reason to believe” that UVa. may be in possession, custody, or control …

The New and Improved Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act is “Enrolled” And Sent to the Governor!


As of yesterday, March 3, 2011, SB1262 was “enrolled” by the Virginia General Assembly! 

An enrolled bill is the final printed version of the bill as passed by the House of Delegates and the Senate, signed by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate (the Lieutenant
Governor) and transmitted to the Governor for his signature.

I also have a correction to make. Earlier, I had reported that Illinois was …

Stephen Kohn blogs about the ACLU lawsuit attacking the seal provisions of the federal False Claims Act

Last month the Whistleblowers Protection Blog did an excellent post following up on the ACLU’s attack on the federal False Claims Act.  After the District Court’s dismissal of the ACLU’s lawsuit, the ACLU appealed the matter to the Fourth Circuit Court […]

The Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act is Amended to Match the Federal False Claims Act!

Last night, the both Houses of the Virginia General Assembly passed the most important piece of legislation in the 2011 legislative session–that is, the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act was updated and amended to match the Federal False Claims Act!  […]

On the topic of civil investigative demands issued by the Attorney General

As Virginia’s 2011 legislative session winds to a close, I am pleased to announce that two bills which sought to strip the Virginia Attorney General of his powers to issue civil investigative demands have failed to pass the House of […]

Legislative Update–SB 1262 is re-amended back into its original form in the House of Delegates

In breaking news from Richmond, we appear well on our way to amending the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (Va. Code 8.01-216.1 et seq.) to incorporate the changes made by Congress.   Today, Del. Greg Habeeb re-amended SB 1262 to fix the slight problem that […]

The GMU Journal of Law, Economics & Policy Issue 7.1

Last week, GMU law school released issue 7.1 of The Journal of Law, Economics & Policy which includes an article by yours truly.  The article is entitled “Public Trust and the Role of Qui Tam Relators in the Regulatory Framework.”  Here […]