[§46-177]  Awards to qui tam plaintiffs. (a)  If a county proceeds with an action brought by a person under section46-175, the person shall receive at least fifteen per cent but not more thantwenty-five per cent of the proceeds of the action or settlement of the claim,depending upon the extent to which the person substantially contributed to theprosecution of the action.  Where the action is one that the court finds to bebased primarily on disclosures of specific information, other than informationprovided by the person bringing the action, relating to allegations ortransactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a legislativeor administrative report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or from the newsmedia, the court may award sums as it considers appropriate, but in no casemore than ten per cent of the proceeds, taking into account the significance ofthe information and the role of the person bringing the action in advancing thecase to litigation.  Any payment to a person under this subsection shall bemade from the proceeds.  The person shall also receive an amount for reasonableexpenses that the court finds to have been necessarily incurred, plusreasonable attorneys' fees and costs.  All expenses, fees, and costs shall be awardedagainst the defendant.

(b)  If the county does not proceed with anaction under this section, the person bringing the action or settling the claimshall receive an amount that the court decides is reasonable for collecting thecivil penalty and damages.  The amount shall be not less than twenty-five percent and not more than thirty per cent of the proceeds of the action orsettlement and shall be paid out of the proceeds.  The person shall alsoreceive an amount for reasonable expenses that the court finds to have beennecessarily incurred, plus reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.  All expenses,fees, and costs shall be awarded against the defendant.

(c)  Regardless of whether the county proceedswith the action, if the court finds that the action was brought by a person whoplanned and initiated the violation of section 46-171 upon which the action wasbrought, then the court, to the extent the court considers appropriate, mayreduce the share of the proceeds of the action that the person would otherwisereceive under subsection (a), taking into account the role of that person inadvancing the case to litigation and any relevant circumstances pertaining tothe violation.  If the person bringing the action is convicted of criminalconduct arising from the person's role in the violation of section 46-171, thatperson shall be dismissed from the civil action and shall not receive any shareof the proceeds of the action.  The dismissal shall not prejudice the right ofthe county to continue the action.

(d)  If the county does not proceed with theaction and the person bringing the action conducts the action, the court mayaward to the defendant its reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses if thedefendant prevails in the action and the court finds that the claim of theperson bringing the action was frivolous, vexatious, or brought primarily forpurposes of harassment.

(e)  In no event may a person bring an actionunder section 46-175:

(1)  Against any elected official of the county, ifthe action is based on evidence or information known to the county.  Forpurposes of this section, evidence or information known only to the person orpersons against whom an action is brought shall not be considered to be knownto the county;

(2)  When the person is a present or former employeeof the county and the action is based upon information discovered by theemployee during the course of the employee's employment, unless the employeefirst, in good faith, exhausted any existing internal procedures for reportingand seeking recovery of the falsely claimed sums through official channels andthe county failed to act on the information provided within a reasonable periodof time; or

(3)  That is based upon allegations or transactionsthat are the subject of a civil or criminal investigation by the county, civilsuit, or an administrative civil money penalty proceeding in which the countyis already a party. [L 2001, c 227, pt of §1]