Niall McCarthy

Niall P. McCarthy, a Principal at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP, is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and Santa Clara University School of Law. He has practiced with the firm since 1992.

McCarthy has also been elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), the International Society of Barristers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

McCarthy has represented qui tam Relators in False Claims Act cases in state and federal courts.  McCarthy handled the Hunter Laboratories Litigation in which he negotiated the then largest False Claims recovery in California history, $301 million.

In the mid 1990s, he was the lead attorney in a groundbreaking case brought under the California False Claims Act on behalf of the University of California San Francisco with respect to direct and overhead costs to the university.

In 2015, he was the lead attorney for the whistleblower in a Qui Tam case resulting in a $75.5 million settlement with technology industry giant, VMware. In 2018, McCarthy resolved a Qui Tam action against British Petroleum for $117 million.

McCarthy has extensive experience pursuing false claims cases arising out of fraud and other industries against the government. He coauthored the articles “Qui Tam Litigation, A Primer for the General Litigator,” “Answering the Call: Attacking Healthcare Fraud with the False Claims Act,” “Recent Developments in False Claims and Healthcare Litigation,” and “False Claims Act Fundamentals.” He has worked with the Department of Justice and Attorneys General offices throughout the United States on False Claims cases.

McCarthy has handled many consumer fraud class actions. He has acted as Co-Lead National Class Counsel in actions against some of the largest banks and credit card companies in the country, which returned hundreds of millions of dollars to consumers. He is the author of “Home Equity Loss in California Through Predatory Lending,” “Combating Predatory Lending in California,” and has spoken in many forums on consumer fraud.

McCarthy also has practiced extensively in the area of elder abuse, including obtaining multi-million dollar recoveries on behalf of senior citizens in actions involving reverse mortgages. He has been retained by San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Alameda County and Santa Cruz County to prosecute financial elder abuse cases.

In addition, he has handled many notable cases against nursing homes, including well-publicized actions for the families of three victims who died at a San Mateo County nursing home during a heat wave, and an action on behalf of a developmentally disabled person who was severely burned while left unattended in a nursing home shower.

He authored “The Elder Abuse Statute: California’s Underutilized Law,” “Elder Abuse: Recent Legal and Legislative Developments,” “Financial Elder Abuse in Real Estate Transactions Under the 2000 Revisions to the Elder Abuse Act” and “Elder Abuse Claims Not Subject to MICRA.” He is a frequent speaker on elder abuse and has been featured in California Lawyer with respect to his work for seniors.

ADMISSIONS:

• California
• United States Supreme Court
• All Federal Courts in California
• Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
• Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

EDUCATION:

• Santa Clara University School of Law, J.D. (1992)
• University of California at Davis, B.A. (1989)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

• American Board of Trial Advocates
• Consumer Attorneys of California, President, 2012
• Co-Chair, Open Courts Coalition
• Past Chairman of the Board of Directors of Community Gatepath