Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Government Contracts
-
August 27, 2024
US Arrests Hungarian Suspected Of Sending Radios To Russia
The U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against a Hungarian national suspected to have run a multinational procurement network designed to help Russia obtain U.S. military-grade communications technology.
-
August 27, 2024
Top Gov't Contract Cases Of 2024: Midyear Report
Courts and appeals boards have decided several consequential cases impacting government contractors this year, including determining whether software end-user licenses are procurement contracts and weighing in on when companies can protest alleged violations of a federal preference for commercial items. Here, Law360 looks back at the top government contracts-related rulings in 2024 so far.
-
August 26, 2024
LA To Pay $38.2M In FCA Suit Alleging Inaccessible Housing
The city of Los Angeles will pay $38.2 million to settle allegations it knowingly failed, for over a decade, to ensure federally funded affordable multifamily housing properties were accessible to people with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
-
August 26, 2024
Army Corps Looks To Trim Claims In Alaskan Gold Mine Row
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has told an Alaska federal judge that most of the claims asserted by a small village that's trying to thwart an open pit gold mine can't be supported and should be dismissed.
-
August 26, 2024
Tetra Tech Accuses Atty Of Mistreating Witness In FCA Row
Tetra Tech EC Inc. claimed that an attorney representing a developer accusing it of fraud had mistreated a witness during a deposition hearing, pressing a California federal court to order the release of recordings capturing the alleged misconduct.
-
August 26, 2024
GAO Rejects EY Protest Over $108M DOD Accounting Deal
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied Ernst & Young LLP's protest over a $107.8 million accounting services deal in support of U.S. Transportation Command, awarded to KPMG LLC, finding that the agency reasonably evaluated both companies' proposals.
-
August 26, 2024
11th Circ. Won't Revive JPMorgan Chase Whistleblower Suit
The Eleventh Circuit on Monday refused to revive a whistleblower suit against JPMorgan Chase Bank NA for allegedly forging mortgage loan documents and submitting false reimbursement claims to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, finding the allegations had already been publicized prior to the lawsuit.
-
August 26, 2024
RTX Settles Bearing Co.'s Trade Secrets Suit On Eve Of Trial
Defense contractor RTX Corp. on Monday settled claims that it passed a Connecticut roller bearing manufacturer's sensitive design drawings to a competitor, averting a trial set to begin this week.
-
August 26, 2024
Wild Ga. Horses Need Aid During Suit's Limbo, Advocates Say
As a Georgia federal judge considers whether to scuttle a lawsuit alleging that a herd of feral horses on one of the state's coastal islands has been neglected and mistreated by federal authorities, the equine plaintiffs have asked the court to order the government to furnish them with emergency stores of food and drinking water.
-
August 26, 2024
NY Nursing Homes Can't Duck AG's $83M Fraud Suit
A New York judge shot down a bid by four nursing homes and their operators to dismiss the state attorney general's claims that they defrauded Medicare and Medicaid and neglected residents.
-
August 26, 2024
Gov't Contracting Policies To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2024
An overhaul to the U.S. Department of Defense's cybersecurity requirements and a pending rule requiring many contractors to report their greenhouse gas emissions headline a slate of significant policy initiatives for government contractors to watch for during the second half of this year. Here, Law360 previews four upcoming policy changes with significant potential impacts on government contractors.
-
August 23, 2024
VA Says It Properly Assessed Bids For $22B IT Deal
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has told the Court of Federal Claims that it had no obligation to consider potential future conflicts of interest involving contractors added to a $22.3 billion information technology contract, pushing back against allegations that it should have disqualified awardees.
-
August 23, 2024
Transport Co.'s Union Pushback Flouted Law, Judge Says
A company that transports migrant children and families from facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border violated federal labor law through its pushback on a union drive, which included interrogating a worker about his union sympathies and later suspending him, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Friday.
-
August 23, 2024
737 Max Families Spurn DOJ, Boeing's 'Cozy' Plea Deal
Families of victims of the 737 Max 8 crashes told a Texas federal judge on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice's "cozy" plea agreement with Boeing must be rejected because it's based on misleading facts and shoddy math that overlook the tragic deaths of 346 people.
-
August 23, 2024
Federal Gov't Hits Georgia Tech With Cybersecurity FCA Suit
The federal government has hit the Georgia Institute of Technology with a False Claims Act suit accusing the university of knowingly failing to comply with required cybersecurity standards while working on federal defense contracts.
-
August 23, 2024
Judge Won't Restrict Access To RTX Trade Secrets Trial
Defense contractor RTX Corp. won't be able to bar non-U.S. citizens from a trade secrets trial slated to get underway Tuesday, but exhibits, such as diagrams, will not be made visible to observers in the courtroom, a Massachusetts federal judge ordered.
-
August 23, 2024
Court Again Dumps Pa. County's Dominion Contract Suit
A Pennsylvania federal court threw out a county's lawsuit against Dominion Voting Systems for a second time, ruling that an amended complaint failed to fix the issue of standing that sank the suit the first time.
-
August 23, 2024
Patent Case Against USPTO Mimics Failed Suit, Feds Say
The federal government has moved to toss a suit alleging that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's website infringes patents covering the idea of two-factor authorization, arguing that a patent in the same "family" was thrown out in 2016 by a different court that said it contained "nothing inventive."
-
August 22, 2024
Calif. Justices Revive PwC's $2.5M Sanction Against LA
The California Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously restored a $2.5 million sanction sought by PwC against the city of Los Angeles for pervasive discovery misconduct in an underlying utility billing fight, finding that the trial court had the authority to impose monetary sanctions under the state's Code of Civil Procedure.
-
August 22, 2024
Construction Co. Says It's Owed Coverage For Sinkhole Claim
A Washington construction company has filed a suit seeking to force an insurer to cover potential damages in an underlying lawsuit alleging the company botched a sewer pipeline replacement project, causing a sinkhole to open up along a Seattle ship canal after the job ended.
-
August 22, 2024
GAO Backs Protest Over Navy Sonar Equipment Deal
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has backed a protest over corrective action on a U.S. Navy solicitation for sonar equipment, saying the Navy failed to consider whether a restrictive term added to the deal made it inappropriate as a small business contract.
-
August 22, 2024
Tech Firm Says DOD Was Ad-Hoc With Chinese Military Label
Lidar technology firm Hesai argued Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Defense has not proved Hesai has connections to the Chinese military as the firm strives to get taken off a list denoting them as such.
-
August 22, 2024
Air Force Cancels $12B Nuclear Missile Program Support Deal
The U.S. Air Force has canceled a long-pending $12 billion solicitation for nuclear missile program support services in the wake of a protest decision finding that the Air Force didn't properly assess awardee Guidehouse LLP's contract proposal.
-
August 22, 2024
NJ Panel Rejects Dispensary's Bid To Revive Application Suit
A would-be cannabis entrepreneur can't upend a New Jersey township's decision to decline her application for a retail license in favor of others, a state appeals court ruled, saying that she needed to name her competitors as defendants to keep the case viable.
-
August 22, 2024
Builder Wins $524M Contract For Cybersecurity Agency HQ
The U.S. General Services Administration announced that it has awarded a construction company with a $524 million contract to build the new Washington, D.C., headquarters for a U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency.
Expert Analysis
-
Series
After Chevron: Piercing FEMA Authority Is Not Insurmountable
While the Federal Emergency Management Agency's discretionary authority continues to provide significant protection from claims under the Administrative Procedure Act, Loper Bright is a blow to the argument that Congress gave FEMA unfettered discretion to administer its own programs, says Wendy Huff Ellard at Baker Donelson.
-
'Outsourcing' Ruling, 5 Years On: A Warning, Not A Watershed
A New York federal court’s 2019 ruling in U.S. v. Connolly, holding that the government improperly outsourced an investigation to Deutsche Bank, has not undercut corporate cooperation incentives as feared — but companies should not completely ignore the lessons of the case, say Temidayo Aganga-Williams and Anna Nabutovsky at Selendy Gay.
-
Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
-
Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State
Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.
-
A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
-
Criminal Enforcement Considerations For Gov't Contractors
Government contractors increasingly exposed to criminal liability risks should establish programs that enable detection and remediation of employee misconduct, consider voluntary disclosure, and be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to make a mandatory disclosure where the government concludes it was required, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
-
Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
-
Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
-
Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
-
Series
After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation
The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.
-
Electrifying Transportation With Public-Private Partnerships
Many clean energy goals remain public policy abstractions that face a challenging road to realization — but public-private partnership models could be a valuable tool to electrify the transportation sector, says Michael Blackwell at Husch Blackwell.
-
In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
-
How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
-
Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects
Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.
-
How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.