Rubin

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. Statutory Background 1 The IFPA (Ins. Code, § 1871 et seq.) was enacted in 1993 to combat workers’ compensation fraud. (People ex rel. Allstate Ins. Co. v. Weitzman (2003) 107 Cal.App.4th 534, 547 (Weitzman).) It was extended to insurance fraud through a 1994

1 Subsequent statutory references are to the Insurance Code unless otherwise stated.

3 amendment. (Id. at pp. 547-548.) As described in a senate committee report, the purpose of the 1994 amendment was “‘to enact a comprehensive package of laws to assist in the prevention, identification, investigation, and prosecution of insurance fraud.’” (Id. at pp. 548-549.) Likewise, the amendment’s sponsor declared its purpose was “‘[t]o help state and local law enforcement agencies and insurers to fight insurance fraud, without creating expensive new bureaucracies and breaking the bank in [a] tight budget year.’” (Ibid.) To assist in the fight against insurance fraud, the IFPA contains a qui tam provision empowering interested persons to file lawsuits on behalf of the government against perpetrators of insurance fraud. “Under subdivision (b) of Insurance Code section 1871.7, ‘[e]very person’ who…