It’s bad luck to count your chickens—or your contingency fees—before they hatch, but lawyers at Sanford Heisler Sharp should be feeling pretty good about their prospects in a $1.28 billion whistleblower suit against Navistar Defense and Navistar International.

Six years ago, firm lawyers filed the qui tam complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Duquoin Burgess, a former contract director at Navistar.