Qui Tam under Florida False Claims Act
Section 68.083(3), Florida Statutes, provides for the filing of qui tam cases under the Florida False Claims Act only in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit, in and for Leon County, Florida. The statutory scheme does not explain how the Leon County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller (“Clerk”) should handle the confidentiality of these cases and/or the documents filed in these cases during the time period before the Florida Attorney General’s Office notifies the Court of its intervention decision.
Section 68.083, Florida Statutes, does refer to the unsealing of the qui tam action in several places as well as the Florida Attorney General Office’s ability to request extensions of the seal period, including through in camera submissions. These provisons seem to indicate that the qui tam cases are initially filed under seal.
Administrative orders AOSC14-19 and AOSC15-18 from the Florida Supreme Court do not address how the Clerk shall handle the confidentiality of such cases or filings in them.
For these reasons, the Second Judicial Circuit of Florida Office of the Chief Judge created Administrative Order 2016-01, which addresses the filing procedures for Qui Tam cases under the Florida False Claims Act. The administrative order requires the Clerk to:
- seal the entire case file for any Qui Tam cases filed under Section 68.083 for 90 days without any need for an initial motion to seal the case file; and
- provide the Florida Attorney General’s Office with a searchable report listing all of the sealed qui tam cases through an agency-specific tab on the Clerk’s registered user website.
If the Florida Attorney General’s Office does not request a seal extension within 90 days after the case’s filing, the Clerk will make the entire case file public unless the Court has previously entered an order sealing all or part of the case file, consistent with Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.420. DOC
If the Florida Attorney General’s Office has filed a timely motion to extend the seal, the clerk will continue to keep it sealed until the court rules on that motion.
