4600. False Claims Act Whistleblower Protection Essential Factual Elements

4600. False Claims Act: Whistleblower Protection--Essential Factual Elements (Gov. Code, § 12653) Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Given as Proposed Refused Withdrawn Request by Defendant Given as Modified Requested by Given on Court's Motion Judge Instruction No 1 [Name of plaintiff] claims that [name of defendant] [discharged/specify other adverse action] [him/her] because [he/she] acted [in furtherance of a false claims action/to stop a false claim by [name of false claimant]]. A false claims action is a lawsuit against a person or entity that is alleged to have submitted a false claim to a government agency for payment or approval. A false claim is a claim for payment with the intent to defraud the government. To establish this claim, [name of plaintiff] must prove all of the following: 1. 2. That [name of plaintiff] was an employee of [name of defendant]; That [name of false claimant] was alleged to have defrauded the government of money, property, or services by submitting a false or fraudulent claim to the government for payment or approval; That [name of plaintiff] [specify acts done in furthering the false claims action or to stop a false claim]; That [name of plaintiff] acted [in furtherance of a false claims action/to stop a false claim]; That [name of defendant] [discharged/specify other adverse action] [name of plaintiff]; That [name of plaintiff]'s acts [in furtherance of a false claims action/to stop a false claim] were a substantial motivating reason for [name of defendant]'s decision to [discharge/specify other adverse action] [him/her]; 3. 4. 5. 6. 4600. False Claims Act: Whistleblower Protection--Essential Factual Elements (Gov. Code, § 12653) Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Given as Proposed Refused Withdrawn Request by Defendant Given as Modified Requested by Given on Court's Motion Judge Instruction No 1 7. 8. That [name of plaintiff] was harmed; and That [name of defendant]'s conduct was a substantial factor in causing [name of plaintiff]'s harm. [An act is "in furtherance of" a false claims action if [[name of plaintiff] actually filed a false claims action [himself/herself].] [or] [someone else filed a false claims action but [name of plaintiff] [specify acts in support of action, e.g., gave a deposition in the action], which resulted in the retaliatory acts.] [or] [no false claims action was ever actually filed, but [name of plaintiff] had reasonable suspicions of a false claim, and it was reasonably possible for [name of plaintiff]'s conduct to lead to a false claims action.] The potential false claims action need not have turned out to be meritorious. [Name of plaintiff] need only show a genuine and reasonable concern that the government was being defrauded.] ______________________________________________________________________________ New September 2012; Revoked June 2013; Restored and Revised December 2013; Renumbered from CACI No. 2440 and Revised June 2015