False Claims Act duration statistics, by court

False Claims ActFCA and qui tam suits in federal court — take a median of 1.9 years from filing to resolution, based on 12,050 real cases in the public federal court record. Most resolve between 266 days and 6.6 years — full statistics, disposition mix, and district breakdown below.

Median
1.9 yr
Faster 25%
266d
Slower 25%
3.9 yr
Slowest 10%
6.6 yr

Filing to termination · 12,050 cases · median 700 days

How False Claims Act lawsuit cases end

Of 6,547 resolved cases — the observed record, not a prediction of any one case.

54%are dismissed· typically 1.5 yr
17%settle· typically 2.8 yr
16%transfer or stay (incl. MDL)· typically 1.7 yr
12%reach judgment· typically 1.5 yr

False Claims Act duration by court

Median time to resolution in the districts with the most False Claims Act lawsuit cases.

DistrictCasesMedianSlowest 10%
C.D. Cal.6232.0 yr6.1 yr
M.D. Fla.5922.2 yr7.9 yr
S.D.N.Y.4633.5 yr9.6 yr
D.N.J.4171.9 yr5.3 yr
N.D. Tex.3791.4 yr4.4 yr
E.D. Pa.3682.7 yr8.2 yr
N.D. Cal.3302.0 yr6.0 yr
N.D. Ga.3302.7 yr7.8 yr
S.D. Fla.302321d5.1 yr
D. Mass.2962.7 yr6.8 yr
N.D. Ill.2721.6 yr7.4 yr
E.D.N.Y.2613.8 yr10.0 yr
D. Md.2552.2 yr7.8 yr
E.D. Va.2351.2 yr3.9 yr
S.D. Tex.2312.4 yr6.8 yr

Have a specific False Claims Act lawsuit?

These are averages across every False Claims Act lawsuit. For a forecast tuned to your case — your court, your amount, your posture — get a free estimate, or the full report built from your complaint.

Other case types

Cite this data

Tertius, "False Claims Act: how long federal cases take, and how they end" (2026). Analysis of Federal Judicial Center Integrated Data Base records, 9.1M U.S. federal civil cases. https://usetertius.com/benchmarks/false-claims-act

Free to cite with attribution — a link back to this page lets readers verify the numbers.

Source: data/fjc/civil.parquet (Federal Judicial Center), cleaned by Tertius · model tertius-acta-6. Durations are filing to termination for U.S. federal civil cases. This is observed historical data, not a prediction of any specific case, and not legal advice. Tertius forecasts timing and disposition, never merits or damages.