At the annual “Continuing Judicial Education” conference in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia this week, I was honored to be invited to speak to the assembled judges about the new state False Claims Act in Georgia, the State False Medicaid Claims Act.
As this whistleblower lawyer blog has written about extensively, there is a wave of new state False Claims Acts across the country, as Congress has urged states to replicate the dramatic successes of the federal False Claims Act in stopping those who steal taxpayer funds.
In 2007 and 2008 to date, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin have joined the 16 other states that have enacted some version of the False Claims Act.
Because the False Claims Act has unique procedures that are foreign to most lawyers, judges, and courthouse staffs, the focus of the discussion was on how to manage cases under state False Claims Acts.
I am grateful to former Chief Judge Stephen Boswell (who has joined our firm as counsel) for his invaluable help in this project.