Dahan

INTRODUCTION

A private party who brings a qui tam action for insurance fraud under Insurance Code section 1871.7, where the district attorney and the Insurance Commissioner decline to intervene, is entitled to a portion of the proceeds of the action plus fees and costs. (Id., subd. (g)(2)(A).) In this case we are confronted with the novel question whether the judgment debtor defendants in such an action have standing to challenge the trial court’s postjudgment order allocating the judgment amount between the prevailing plaintiffs, i.e., the private party and the state. We hold that judgment debtor defendants in qui tarn insurance fraud actions are not aggrieved by such allocation orders under section 1871.7, subdivision (g)(2)(A), with the result that they do not have standing to appeal. Accordingly, we dismiss their appeal.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Allstate Insurance Company et al. (Allstate) as private-party plaintiff or “relator,” brought a qui tarn action on behalf of itself and the State of California (together plaintiffs), against defendants Daniel H. Dahan and his affiliated corporation, Progressive Diagnostic Imaging, Inc. (together defendants),…