Aerospace & Defense

  • March 04, 2024

    Pentagon Leaker Faces Lengthy Prison Term After Plea

    Jack Teixeira, the 22-year-old Massachusetts Air National Guardsman charged with one of the most significant military intelligence leaks in U.S. history, is facing more than a decade in prison after pleading guilty Monday to multiple violations of the Espionage Act.

  • March 01, 2024

    Ga. Tech Prof Gets Most China-Tied Fraud Charges Tossed

    A Georgia federal judge on Friday overruled a federal magistrate in dismissing nine of 10 criminal charges against a former Georgia Institute of Technology professor who was accused of using his post to help bring foreign nationals into the U.S. to covertly work for Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE.

  • March 01, 2024

    Microsoft Escapes SAIC's Night-Vision Goggle Patent Suit

    A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has found that Microsoft Corp. didn't infringe a Science Applications International Corp. patent in a suit accusing the federal government of contracting with Microsoft and L3 Technologies Inc. for night-vision goggle weapon systems with infringing displays, but the judge also denied bids to find the patent invalid.

  • March 01, 2024

    Afghan Allies' Visa Processing On The Rise, Watchdog Says

    The U.S. Department of State was able to increase the number of special immigrant visas issued to Afghan allies during the last months of 2023, the U.S. Department of Defense watchdog recently reported.

  • March 01, 2024

    Trump Challenges Origins Of Prosecution In Fla. Docs Case

    The special counsel's office prosecuting Donald Trump's criminal case on mishandling classified documents told the Florida federal judge overseeing the case on Friday that his attorneys don't have a viable claim challenging the origins of the prosecution team, arguing that intelligence agencies had no role in determining the charges against the former president.

  • March 01, 2024

    MNC Capital Enters Vista Outdoor Takeover Fray With $2B Bid

    MNC Capital Partners LP has submitted a proposal to acquire Vista Outdoor Inc. for $2 billion, despite Vista entering a merger agreement last year to be acquired by a different company, according to Friday statements.

  • March 01, 2024

    Joint Venture Wins $45B DOE Nuclear Deal Again After Protest

    The U.S. Department of Energy has again awarded a $45 billion nuclear waste management contract to a BWXT, Fluor and Amentum joint venture, after a previous award to the company was vacated over its failure to follow a federal registration requirement.

  • March 01, 2024

    Construction Co. Loses $492M Corps Deal Protest

    The Court of Federal Claims has shot down a construction company's contention that the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $492.3 million cutoff wall project deal despite the awardee having a deficient subcontractor commitment letter, saying the letter wasn't needed.

  • March 01, 2024

    Ex-Raytheon Worker Asks Full 5th Circ. To Revive Firing Suit

    An ex-Raytheon engineer pressed the full Fifth Circuit to reconsider a panel decision blocking claims that he was fired for reporting concerns with a naval system, saying the panel wrongly expanded a national security court review bar to government contractors.

  • March 01, 2024

    Iranian National Faces 20 Years For Defense Hack Scheme

    An Iranian national faces up to 20 years in prison for his alleged role in a yearslong hacking scheme that targeted U.S. companies, including defense contractors, often by using fake female personas on social media, according to a freshly unsealed indictment.

  • March 01, 2024

    Menendez Associate Pleads Guilty In Bribe Case

    A New Jersey insurance broker pled guilty Friday to bribing Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine, by buying her a Mercedes-Benz convertible, under an agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

  • March 01, 2024

    Russian Admits To Smuggling US Tech With Military Uses

    A Russian national pled guilty in a New York federal court to money laundering and smuggling, after being accused by U.S. prosecutors of operating a network that brought sensitive U.S. microelectronics with military applications to Russia.

  • February 29, 2024

    Veteran Journalist Held In Contempt For Not Divulging Source

    A D.C. federal judge on Thursday found veteran journalist Catherine Herridge in civil contempt of his order to reveal her sources for a series of stories she wrote while at Fox News about a Chinese American scientist who was the subject of a federal investigation.

  • February 29, 2024

    Pentagon Leak Suspect To Change Plea In Hearing Next Week

    Federal prosecutors indicated Thursday that a former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman will change his not guilty plea to charges he posted hundreds of top-secret military intelligence documents online, asking a Massachusetts federal judge to schedule a change of plea hearing for next week.

  • February 29, 2024

    GSA's Chinese Cameras Better Off In Russia, House Rep. Quips

    Members of the U.S. House of Representatives criticized the federal government's 2022 purchase of 150 Chinese cameras over national security concerns during a Thursday hearing, with one lawmaker calling to get rid of them and send them to Russia instead.

  • February 29, 2024

    Boeing To Pay $51M To End 199 Arms Export Violation Claims

    The Boeing Co. will pay $51 million to resolve nearly 200 export violations that threatened U.S. national security when its foreign employees downloaded and transferred technical data in violation of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, with $24 million to go toward compliance efforts, the U.S. Department of State announced Thursday.

  • February 29, 2024

    Ex-US Diplomat To Plead Guilty To Spying For Cuba

    A diplomat who served on the National Security Council during the Clinton administration and as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia told a Florida federal judge Thursday that he intends to plead guilty to charges he secretly acted as an agent of the Cuban government for decades.

  • February 29, 2024

    Watchdog Says Labor Mismatch Dooms Fighter Planes Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office called for the termination of a contract to maintain the Marines' Osprey fighter planes, saying the U.S. General Services Administration hadn't shown that the awardee was pre-qualified to offer the required workers.

  • February 29, 2024

    Feds Want To Ask Trump Jurors If 2020 Election Was 'Stolen'

    Florida federal prosecutors want to ask potential jurors in Donald Trump's classified documents case if they believe the 2020 election was "stolen" and if they hold opinions about how the FBI executed a highly publicized search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

  • February 29, 2024

    Defense Contractor Says Ex-Exec Took Sensitive Data To Rival

    A defense contractor accused a former executive of taking confidential business information and export-controlled data on the body armor it supplies to the U.S. military and local and state law enforcement to a rival, a foreign-owned business.

  • February 28, 2024

    Judge Blocks VA Support Deal Over 'Irrational' Conflict Ruling

    The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has blocked the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs from moving forward with a suicide-prevention support contract, finding that it unreasonably cut a bidder from contention based on subcontracting work on a similar deal.

  • February 28, 2024

    Textron, DJI End Texas Drone Patent Case After $279M Verdict

    A Texas federal judge has signed off on a notice by Textron Innovations Inc. and Chinese aerospace company SZ DJI Technology Co. Ltd. that they've agreed to dismiss a case in which DJI was found to have infringed Textron's drone patents and told to pay $279 million last year — the fourth-largest patent damages award of 2023.

  • February 28, 2024

    Family's Suit Over Take-Home Asbestos Death Is Revived

    A Texas appeals court has reinstated a man's suit against Howmet Aerospace Inc. alleging his wife died of asbestosis as a result of cleaning his asbestos-covered clothing for 25 years, saying the trial court was wrong to find that the man hadn't presented any evidence linking that exposure to her death.

  • February 28, 2024

    Halkbank Immunity Gambit Doesn't Appear To Sway 2nd Circ.

    The Second Circuit did not appear keen Wednesday to dismiss criminal charges accusing Halkbank of laundering over $1 billion of Iran oil proceeds, after the U.S. Supreme Court directed arguments on the Turkish state-owned lender's assertion that common-law sovereign immunity protects it.

  • February 28, 2024

    Classified Docs Out Of Defense's Reach In Mar-A-Lago Case

    The Florida federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's criminal case over allegedly mishandling secret documents after leaving office ruled Wednesday that defense counsel can't see government motions asking to restrict classified information produced in discovery, a day after Trump's two co-defendants were prohibited from reviewing 5,100 pages of classified material.

Expert Analysis

  • Terror Funding Suit Could Affect Inherited Jurisdiction In NY

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    Depending on how New York’s highest court answers two questions certified from the Second Circuit in a case litigating companies’ liability for terrorist attacks, foreign companies with no relevant New York contacts may be subject to suit in state courts by virtue of an asset purchase, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Perspectives

    A Judge's Pitch To Revive The Jury Trial

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    Ohio state Judge Pierre Bergeron explains how the decline of the jury trial threatens public confidence in the judiciary and even democracy as a whole, and he offers ideas to restore this sacred right.

  • How To Recognize And Recover From Lawyer Loneliness

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    Law can be one of the loneliest professions, but there are practical steps that attorneys and their managers can take to help themselves and their peers improve their emotional health, strengthen their social bonds and protect their performance, says psychologist and attorney Traci Cipriano.

  • Opinion

    Litigation Funding Disclosure Should Be Mandatory

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    Despite the Appellate Rules Committee's recent deferral of the issue of requiring third-party litigation funding disclosure, such a mandate is necessary to ensure the even-handed administration of justice across all cases, says David Levitt at Hinshaw.

  • Recalling USWNT's Legal PR Playbook Amid World Cup Bid

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    As the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team strives to take home another World Cup trophy, their 2022 pay equity settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation serves as a good reminder that winning in the court of public opinion can be more powerful than a victory inside the courtroom, says Hector Valle at Vianovo.

  • Regulating AI: An Overview Of Federal Efforts

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    The U.S. has been carefully managing a national policy and regulatory ecosystem toward artificial intelligence, but as AI technology continues to expand into our everyday lives, so too has its risks and the need for regulation, says Jennifer Maisel at Rothwell Figg.

  • Prepping For PFAS Approval Under EPA's New Framework

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    Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently announced framework for addressing new per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and new uses of PFAS, entities should prepare for increased scrutiny and develop the necessary data prior to submitting premanufacture or significant new use notices, say David Edelstein and Charles Dennen at Archer & Greiner.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Timeliness, Evidence, Fact-Finding

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    Edward Arnold and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth Shaw look at three recent opinions from three stages of government contract claims litigation about avoiding untimeliness by ticking procedural boxes, supporting factual positions at the summary judgment stage and how the appellate boards review default terminations.

  • California's PFAS Bans May Have National Ripple Effects

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    As California moves to phase out per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from many categories of consumer products, other states may soon follow — so manufacturers would be well advised take action now, or risk losing substantial market share, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.

  • What's Causing EU-US Impasse On Steel And Aluminum

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    The EU and the U.S. have made limited progress in negotiating for a Global Arrangement on Sustainable Steel and Aluminum, and they face high obstacles to meeting the fast-approaching October deadline, say attorneys at Akin.

  • Perspectives

    Mallory Gives Plaintiffs A Better Shot At Justice

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    Critics of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Mallory v. Norfolk Southern claim it opens the door to litigation tourism, but the ruling simply gives plaintiffs more options — enabling them to seek justice against major corporations in the best possible court, say Rayna Kessler and Ethan Seidenberg at Robins Kaplan.

  • Why Justices' SuperValu Ruling Wasn't Quite A 'Seismic Shift'

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    Notwithstanding an early victory lap by the relators' bar, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. SuperValu Inc. was a win for both whistleblowers and sophisticated companies, but unfortunately left “subjective belief” to be interpreted by lower courts and future litigants, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.

  • Gov't Contractors Should Prep For Increased AI Scrutiny

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    As the U.S. Department of Defense considers how artificial intelligence development can be helpful or harmful to U.S. national defense, government contractors and industry actors can prepare for emerging guidance and requirements by looking at lessons learned from prior cybersecurity measures, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Courts Can Overturn Deficient State Regulations, Too

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    While suits challenging federal regulations have become commonplace, such cases against state agencies are virtually nonexistent, but many states have provisions that allow litigants to bring suit for regulations with inadequate cost-benefit analyses, says Reeve Bull at the Virginia Office of Regulatory Management.

  • Tales From The Trenches Of Remote Depositions

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    As practitioners continue to conduct depositions remotely in the post-pandemic world, these virtual environments are rife with opportunities for improper behavior such as witness coaching, scripted testimony and a general lack of civility — but there are methods to prevent and combat these behaviors, say Jennifer Gibbs and Bennett Moss at Zelle.

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