United States v. Nancy Smith

OPINION

THOMAS, Chief Judge:

In this appeal, we consider whether a criminal forfeiture action constitutes an “alternate remedy” to a civil qui tam action under the False Claims Act, entitling a relator to intervene in the criminal action and recover a share of the proceeds pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 3730(c)(5). We hold that it does not, and we affirm the district court’s order denying intervention.

I

The criminal defendant, Neil Van Dyck, was a licensed podiatrist who owned and operated his own podiatry practice until October 2014. Relator Wendy Johnson worked as a medical assistant for Van Dyck…