President Obama announced today that he plans on eliminating $40 billion a year resulting from corruption in public contracting.  The problems in the past were that many contracts were awarded without competitive bidding and often times goods or services were never provided despite being paid for by the government.

Public contracts are required to comply with various regulations including sealed bids to prevent price fixing and collusion.  The bidding process starts with the government advertising for bids.  The government supplies plans and specifications to qualified contractors who in turn submit sealed bids.  Once the bids are opened the contract is supposed to be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.  The party awarded the contract must comply with various laws including the Davis-Bacon Act which requires the payment of predetermined prevailing wages to workers on the project if the contract is for construction services.

The area involving defense contractors was ripe for coruption and spawned numerous false claims or whistleblower lawsuits.  Whistleblower claims arose from disgruntled employees who learned of a fraud upon the goverment by their employers.  The disgruntled employee would then contact a lawyer who in turn informed the government of the fraud.  The employer then files a lawsuit under seal in the Federal Courts

The government then embarks upon an investigation into the claims and decides if it wants to intervene and take over the lawsuit.  If the government declines, the employee through his attorney can litigate the case.

The employee is entitled to a bounty for blowing the whistle which is a percentage of the recovery the government obtains from the lawsuit, either from a trial or settlement.  There is an incentive for the defrauding employer to settle these cases and most of these cases do in fact settle,  provided the fraud can be confirmed.

Whistleblower lawsuits often result in large rewards being paid to the whistleblower.

Robert G. Klein, Esq. is a Los Angeles trademark attorney and a Los Angeles business lawyer who specializes in trademark infringement, copyright infringement, and unfair competition.  He feels it is important to hire a Los Angeles trademark lawyer and a Los Angeles business lawyer if one is involved in litigation in that locale.  Robert G. Klein is a prominent Los Angeles business attorney and is available for consultation on matters involving trademark infringement, copyright infringement, and business law matters.  He has successfully obtained many multi-million dollar jury verdicts. Many of Mr. Klein’s court decisions have been published as case authority and he has appeared before the United States Supreme Court for oral argument. Mr. Klein has also published “Consumer List: Trade Secret or Fair Game?”, which is an article published in the Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine. Los Angeles trademark infringement attorney Robert G. Klein can be reached at (213) 996-8508 or visit our web site at http://www.kleinlitigation.com