Cite as: 538 U. S. 119 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
amount of the fraud itself, but also ancillary costs, such as the costs of detection and investigation, that routinely attend the Government's efforts to root out deceptive practices directed at the public purse"). The most obvious indication that the treble damages ceiling has a remedial place under this statute is its qui tam feature with its possibility of diverting as much as 30 percent of the Government's recovery to a private relator who began the action. In qui tam cases the rough difference between double and triple damages may well serve not to punish, but to quicken the self-interest of some private plaintiff who can spot violations and start litigating to compensate the Government, while benefiting himself as well. See United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U. S. 537, 547 (1943). The treble feature thus leaves the remaining double damages to provide elements of make-whole recovery beyond mere recoupment of the fraud. Cf. Bornstein, 423 U. S., at 315, and n. 11. It may also be necessary for full recovery even when there is no qui tam relator to be paid. The FCA has no separate provision for prejudgment interest, which is usually thought essential to compensation, see, e. g., Kansas v. Colorado, 533 U. S. 1, 10-11 (2001), and might well be substantial given the FCA's long statute of limitations, § 3731(b). Nor does the FCA expressly provide for the consequential damages that typically come with recovery for fraud, see Restatement (Second) of Torts § 549(1)(b), and Comment d (1976).9
Thus, although Stevens recognized that the FCA's treble damages remedy is still "punitive" in that recovery will exceed full compensation in a good many cases, the force of this
9 The treble damages provision was, in a way, adopted by Congress as a substitute for consequential damages. The Senate version of the bill proposed consequential damages on top of treble damages, while the House version proposed consequential damages plus double damages. See S. Rep. No. 99-345, p. 39 (1986) (hereinafter S. Rep.); H. R. Rep. No. 99-660, p. 20 (1986). Ultimately, the Senate's treble figure was adopted and the consequential damages provision dropped.
131
Page: Index Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007