U.S. Forest Service Airtanker Scandal - Civil Cases - Eitel qui Tam

Eitel qui Tam

In 1994, Gary Eitel filed a qui tam civil lawsuit on behalf of the Federal government against Reagan, the six airtanker operators, and a number of other defendants, which alleged fraud and the unjust gain of enrichment through the exchange program. Due to federal law, Fuchs is immune from being named in such a civil suit. Initially, the U.S. government declined to join the suit. In a qui tam suit, a private citizen may file suit on behalf of and as an agent for the U.S. Government against entities accused of defrauding the government. While the plaintiff must pay for the legal expenses out of his own pocket (in 1998 Eitel estimated that the suit had cost him $3 million), he is entitled to receive 15% to 30% of the money which the government recovers should he prevail in court. Potential penalties were estimated to run as high as US$500 million. Among the issues raised in court by the suit are "whether some aerial firefighters were unjustly enriched, if the U.S. Justice Department and Forest Service covered up CIA and drug cartel links to some of the planes, whether the planes should remain in private hands, if the list of defendants should grow or dwindle, and who is telling the truth."

The suit was originally filed in U.S. District Court in Oregon (because that was where Reagan was living at the time), and that court ended up dismissing the action. Eitel appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which, in 1997, reinstated the case and allowed the Justice Department to join Eitel as a plaintiff in the suit. At this time, the case was also transferred to District Court in Arizona. Eitel and the Justice Department, however, disagreed over the allegations of CIA involvement, and whether that should be a factor in the suit. The DoJ filed motions in 1998 to drop several of the defendants, provoking a sharp disagreement between Eitel and the Department, and resulting in Eitel's accusation that the DoJ was covering up covert activities and evidence.

One of the defendants named in the suit was Riverside County, California County Supervisor Jim Venable, who was also the President of the original recipient, Hemet Valley Flying Service, which received seven of the C-130s.

Eitel filed a separate civil suit, which was later combined into his whistleblower action, against the DoJ, USDA and the GSA for an out-of-court settlement between the government and Aero Union and TBM. These two contractors had received aircraft which the government had retained title of, and instead of maintaining the planes, they dismantled them for parts, netting $750,000 in proceeds.