On October 28, 2014, James B. Helmer, Jr. presented a national webinar through Bloomberg BNA entitled “Common Defenses to the False Claims Act and How to Defeat Them.” Presenting the seminar with Mr. Helmer was Joseph E. B. “Jeb” White, a partner with the law firm, Nolan, Auerbach & White, P.A. Over 500 people from around the country attended the presentation.
Because the stakes are tremendous in False Claims Act cases, a number of defenses have been developed. Mr. Helmer and Mr. White addressed these defenses and discussed how they can be defeated.
Jim Helmer is Senior Partner and President of the Cincinnati office of Helmer, Martins, Rice & Popham. See his profile for more information. Approximately half of his practice, which is exclusively devoted to litigation, involves the representation of employees blowing the whistle on fraudulent Government contractors. Mr. Helmer has obtained several multi-million dollar jury verdicts and has been trial counsel in over 300 published legal decisions. His False Claims Act cases have returned over $1 Billion to the taxpayers and have resulted in 15 criminal indictments. Mr. Helmer is author of Bloomberg BNA’s False Claims Act: Whistleblower Litigation, Sixth Edition, with 2014 Supplement and co-author of Representing the Terminated Employee in Ohio (2d ed. Anderson 1997).
In 1985 and 1986, Mr. Helmer’s testimony before the House of Representatives and the United States Senate was pivotal in the 1986 Amendments to the False Claims Act. Congress and President Reagan accepted all of the suggestions Mr. Helmer made for modernizing the statute which has become known as the government’s primary weapon against fraud on the taxpayers. In 2008, he argued Allison Engine Co. v. United States ex rel. Sanders before the United States Supreme Court against former Solicitor General Theodore Olson. The Court ruled by a 9-0 decision in favor of Mr. Helmer’s client but then interpreted the False Claims Act in a restrictive manner. As a result, Mr. Helmer returned to testify before two Congressional Committees in 2008 concerning the clarification of the False Claims Act. Congress overwhelmingly passed the amendments that he championed, and they were signed them into law in May 2009.
If you missed the seminar, it is available on demand or on CD from Bloomberg BNA.
