Even the federal government can fall victim to the greed and fraud of big corporations. So, when it became apparent that several major companies had cheated the United States government out of hundreds of millions of dollars, Nix Patterson filed suit under the False Claims Act. The Firm was lead attorney for one of three relators (relator is the term used for the plaintiff in FCA litigation) in Johnson, et al. v. Shell, et al., in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas. The Johnson Lawsuit ultimately resulted in settlements in excess of $400 million dollars on behalf of the United States Government. The Johnson lawsuit resulted in the largest FCA recovery in history at the time.
On behalf of its client, NP partners Michael Angelovich and Cary Patterson led efforts to hold the oil industry responsible for its underpayment of federal royalty obligations.