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Under Seal

When a qui tam suit is initially filed, the case is said to be “under seal.” At the most basic level, this means that all court processes and legal proceedings must be kept private and may not be revealed or discussed outside the courtroom. In addition to limiting general discussion of the case, the power behind a court seal can help keep the case itself alive. After all, plaintiffs who break the seal on a qui tam case may have their case dropped by the court.

To learn more about court seals and case privacy, contact the qui tam lawyers of Tycko & Zavareei, LLP, today at 202-973-0900.

Who Can Discuss My Case?

In the qui tam process, only certain individuals may investigate a case that is under seal. These individuals may include:

The local US federal attorney
The assigned District Court judge
The Department of Justice
Upon request, selected individuals tied to the case

Generally speaking, this includes only those individuals directly related to the government’s case should they decide to take up the claim. Once the government takes the case, the Department of Justice officially eliminates the seal on the case, making the proceedings public.

The federal government has the option of prolonging the usual 60-day seal with the agreement of the court. This may keep the case under federal scrutiny for a significantly longer period of time while the Department of Justice decides their possible involvement.