On December 8, 2022, the First Department issued a decision in Phone Admin. Servs. Inc. v. Verizon N.Y., Inc., 2022 NY Slip Op. 07012, holding that a qui tam relator did not err in bringing claims for defrauding local governments in the name of the state, explaining:
Defendants failed to establish that the operative qui tam complaint, which followed the procedures set forth under the NYFCA, should be dismissed under CPLR 3211(a)(3) for lack of standing on the grounds that it was filed on behalf of the State of New York and not a local government entity that suffered pecuniary damage from the alleged fraud. State Finance Law § 190 confers upon the State the authority to bring a civil action on behalf of the people of the State of New York or on behalf of a local government, and to supersede and convert a complaint filed by a relator into a civil enforcement action. Thus, section 190 provides the basis for the relator’s derivative standing to bring an action in the name of the State alleging injuries to local government entities.