Having held United States ex rel. Kelly v. Boeing Co., 9 F.3d 743 (9th Cir. 1993), that a government entity may delegate to a qui tam claimant its right to sue a defendant for civil penalties without violating the defendant’s due process rights, the Ninth Circuit holds in this decision that a district attorney may hire private counsel on a contingency fee basis to prosecute UCL actions for civil penalties in the name of the People, subject to the district attorney’s ultimate control. Doing so does not violate the defendant’s due process rights.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (Friedland, J.); March 15, 2018; 2018 WL 1321084