There can be several different kinds of cases involved in qui tam (KEY tam) lawsuits. Probably the most common type filed is mischarging cases. Mischarging cases generally involve filing false claims for goods or services that weren't provided or delivered. An example of a common mischarging scenario would be when employee labor is charged to a government contract that he or she didn't work on. Other common mischarging schemes are false claims made to the Government for medical services not rendered or for services performed by someone other than the attending physician. Such schemes are designed to bill the government at a higher cost for services that should have been charged at a lower or no rate at all. Another type of qui tam case is the false negotiation or defective pricing case. This type of case involves the submission of false cost and pricing data to the Government during the negotiation of a contract that subsequently results in an inflated contract price. Other types of cases involve 'product and service substitution' whereby individuals falsely certify that an inferior product meets specifications and 'false certification of entitlement for benefits' whereby information for FHA (F-H-A) mortgage guarantees are falsified. Successful recoveries for qui tam case to date have totaled more than $1 billion, with individual cases recovering as much as $125 to $150 million. Most of the successful lawsuits involving fraud have concerned Defense and Health Care programs.
