ILN Today Features Health Law Advisor Blog Post, "The False Claims Act Under a Trump Administration - What Does Attorney General Nominee Sessions Think?"

Sessions’ testimony seems to have offered something to those on “both sides” of the FCA. His statements suggest that he recognizes the value of the FCA and its qui tam provisions; indeed, we learned that he even brought a qui tam case when he was in private practice. However, his testimony also reflects concern about unreasonably long seal periods, which are a significant problem for defendants in FCA cases. Extended seal periods plainly provide a unilateral litigation advantage to the Government and qui tam Relators by allowing extensive time to investigate while providing defendants no corresponding opportunity. Instead, extended seal periods often force defendants to be relegated to face aged claims once they are finally able to defend themselves. (Most FCA actions are filed under whistleblower, or qui tam, provisions. According to the Department of Justice, whistleblowers filed 702 qui tam suits in fiscal year 2016—an average of 13.5 new cases every week.) Only time will tell if a Justice Department under Attorney General Sessions will press to expedite consideration of FCA cases and improve the “playing field” in the process.