(a) If the Attorney General declines to proceed with the action, the person who brought the action shall have the right to conduct the action. In the event that the Attorney General declines to proceed with the action, upon the request of the Attorney General, the court shall order that copies of all pleadings filed in the action and copies of any deposition transcripts be provided to the state. When the person who brought the action proceeds with the action, the court, without limiting the status and rights of such person, may permit the Attorney General to intervene at a later date upon a showing of good cause.

(b) A person bringing an action under this section or settling the claim shall receive an amount which the court decides is reasonable for collecting the civil penalty and damages. The amount shall be not less than twenty-five per cent or more than thirty per cent of the proceeds of the action or settlement and shall be paid out of such proceeds. Such person shall also receive an amount for reasonable expenses that the court finds to have been necessarily incurred, plus reasonable attorneys' fees and costs. All such expenses, fees and costs shall be awarded against the defendant.

(c) If a defendant prevails in the action conducted under this section and the court finds that the claim of the person bringing the action was clearly frivolous, clearly vexatious or brought primarily for purposes of harassment, the court may award reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses to the defendant.

(d) Irrespective of whether the Attorney General proceeds with the action, upon request and showing by the Attorney General that certain motions or requests for discovery by a person bringing the action would interfere with the state's investigation or prosecution of a criminal or civil matter arising out of the same facts, the court may stay such discovery for a period of not more than sixty days from the date of the order of the stay. Such a showing shall be conducted in camera. The court may extend the stay for an additional sixty-day period upon a further showing in camera that the state has pursued the criminal or civil investigation or proceedings with reasonable diligence and any proposed discovery in the civil action will interfere with the ongoing criminal or civil investigation or proceedings. For the purposes of this subsection, the Chief State's Attorney or state's attorney for the appropriate judicial district may appear to explain to the court the potential impact of such discovery on a pending criminal investigation or prosecution.

(P.A. 14-217, S. 6.)

History: P.A. 14-217 effective June 13, 2014.