United States ex rel. Virani v. Jerry M. Lewis Truck Parts & Equipment, Inc.

concurring.

I concur with the result in this case, but differ slightly from the majority’s statutory interpretation. The majority holds that the False Claims Act requires payment of court-awarded attorneys’ fees directly to the attorney. I would hold that, absent a contractual assignment to the attorney, the False Claims Act requires payment of the attorneys’ fee award to the party, with the ultimate disposition of the award dependent upon the contract between the attorney and client. Here, I have absolutely no conflict with the result because Virani assigned his right to court-awarded attorneys’ fees to his lawyers.

However, a brief comment on the statutory analysis is warranted. On its face, the False Claims Act provides that payment of attorneys’ fees should be made directly to the qui tarn plaintiff. Referring to the qui tarn plaintiff, 31 U.S.C. § 3730 (d)(1) provides:

(emphasis added).

This result is consistent with the general proposition, noted by the majority, that federal fee-shifting statutes confer fee awards upon parties, not attorneys. Evans v. Jeff D., 475 U.S. 717, 730-32 , 106 S.Ct. 1531, 1539-40 , 89 L.Ed.2d 747 (1986). A party may waive statutorily…

The law firm of Hall & Phillips (HP) appeals the district court’s order which required Jerry M. Lewis Truck Parts & Equipment, Inc. (Lewis), the defendant in a qui tam suit, to pay statutory attorneys’ fees to Alnoor Virani, the qui tam relator, rather than directly to HP. The law firm was Vira-ni’s attorney in the qui tam action. At the same time, Lewis appeals the district court’s refusal to reconsider the amount of the attorneys’ fees award because Lewis contends that improper fee arrangements made the attorneys’ fees unreasonable. We reverse the district court’s order that the attorneys’ fees be paid directly to the qui tam relator rather than directly to the attorneys, but we affirm the district court’s denial of Lewis’s motion for reconsideration.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

In February 1989, Virani retained HP to represent him in a qui tam action against Lewis under the False Claims Act (FCA). 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3732 . The retainer agreement provided that Virani would not pay HP for legal services in connection with the Lewis litigation. The agreement, however, did reserve HP’s right to seek court-awarded costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees from Lewis. The agreement further…