Title: How can the U.S. government sue a business? | HowStuffWorks
Headings: How can the U.S. government sue a business?
How can the U.S. government sue a business?
Antitrust Lawsuits
False Claims Lawsuits
Who Can Sue?
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Author's Note: How can the U.S. government sue a business?
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Content: The original law was crafted to punish contractors who knowingly submitted false invoices to the government for goods and services. The law was greatly expanded in 1986 to cover any number of fraud cases that directly or indirectly involve government interests. Since 1987, the federal government has recovered more than $40 billion through civil false claims lawsuits [source: TAF Education Fund ]. False claims trials are essentially fraud cases. Under civil law, fraud can be difficult to prove, because it has many components: Advertisement
Not only must the perpetrator make a false claim, but he or she must know that the claim is false
The claim must be made knowing that the victim will rely on that information to make a decision
The victim must suffer damages from making that decision [source: ACFE]
In a criminal fraud case, on the other hand, the government only has to prove that the perpetrator tried to defraud the victim, regardless of whether he or she succeeded [source: ACFE ]. Here are some examples of situations in which the U.S. government could sue in civil court for false claims: