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Government Contracts
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June 18, 2024
High Court Petition Asks Justices: What's A 'Willful' Kickback?
Does a "willful" act under federal anti-kickback law require a defendant to know that the conduct violates the law? That's the question a whistleblower is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to answer in order to resolve what the petition calls a circuit split on a key question of federal fraud prosecutions.
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June 18, 2024
The 2 Attys Ensnared In A NJ Mogul's Racketeering Rap
New Jersey businessman George E. Norcross III may be the alleged mastermind of a racketeering scheme to reap millions in tax credits on waterfront property in a distressed city, but the explosive indictment also reveals the purported roles of two attorneys with close ties to the Democratic Party.
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June 18, 2024
Charges Dropped In NYC Mayor Straw Donor Case
A New York state judge on Tuesday dismissed charges against a former development consultant and state employee, who was accused of being part of a conspiracy to funnel straw donor funds to New York City Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 campaign, after prosecutors agreed to drop the case.
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June 18, 2024
Fla. Immune To Contract Suit Over COVID Tests, 4th Circ. Says
The Fourth Circuit reversed on Tuesday a district court decision denying a motion to dismiss by a Florida state agency in a breach of contract case involving COVID-19 tests, finding the lower court erred in ruling that the state did not have sovereign immunity and remanding the case for further proceedings.
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June 18, 2024
Chastened Boeing CEO Vows Fixes In Harsh Senate Hearing
Boeing's chief steadfastly defended the company's commitment to safety, even as he acknowledged a breakdown in how certain managers responded to whistleblowers who had flagged past questionable design or manufacturing practices, as he endured a grueling public hearing before a Senate panel Tuesday.
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June 18, 2024
Claims Court Judges Say 'Less Is More' For Bid Protest Briefs
Court of Federal Claims judges said Tuesday that although the court allows generous page limits for briefs, attorneys should usually err on the side of brevity, focusing on their strongest arguments, or risk undermining their case.
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June 18, 2024
FTC Bristles At Axon's Citing Of Dropped Merger Case
The Federal Trade Commission wanted to ensure a New Jersey federal judge knew the abandonment of a case contesting Axon's purchase of a fellow police body camera company had nothing to do with the merits of the challenge, in a Monday amicus brief partially backing a proposed class action.
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June 18, 2024
CACI Can't Claim Costs For Bid To Dismiss $74.4M Navy Deal
A Virginia company can't recoup costs incurred while protesting a competitor's $74.4 million naval contract award after the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the objections to the award, some of which were dismissed, didn't clearly have merit.
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June 18, 2024
Hospital Board Says Feds Underpaid Claims By $17M
A Navajo Nation hospital board is suing the federal government, alleging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services underpaid its fiscal year 2016 funding request for contract support costs by $17.4 million without any legal justification.
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June 18, 2024
4th Circ. Says Filmmaker Has Right To Sealed Court Docs
The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday revived a documentary filmmaker's bid to access sealed documents from a False Claims Act suit against student loan providers, finding he has a First Amendment right to the material and the parties must prove if the seal is warranted.
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June 18, 2024
GAO Rejects Claim CBP Rigged Migrant Facility Contract Bids
The U.S. Government Accountability Office on Monday denied a vendor's protest challenging the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's solicitation seeking vendors to provide an immigrant detention facility in North Eagle Pass, Texas, rejecting the protester's allegations that the solicitation process was rigged to unfairly favor an incumbent contractor.
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June 18, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Revive Vax Mandate Case Amid Judge DQ Bid
In a nonprecedential opinion, the Ninth Circuit has refused to restore a COVID vaccine mandate suit brought by federal workers and contractors who also sought to disqualify a judge they believed was conflicted, finding the workers lacked standing because they named officials who cannot reinstate them rather than their employers.
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June 17, 2024
Teva, DOJ Signal Key Kickback Case May Fizzle At 1st Circ.
A U.S. Department of Justice kickback case against Teva Pharmaceuticals — closely watched by False Claims Act lawyers because of its multibillion-dollar stakes and its link to a major circuit split — is poised for settlement, according to a new First Circuit filing ahead of eagerly awaited oral arguments.
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June 17, 2024
Amentum Rebuffs Air Force's $350K Damages For Staffing Fight
Amentum Services Inc. challenged the U.S. Air Force's efforts to claim $350,000 in damages over a staffing issue for a weapons maintenance deal, telling the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that the contract bars the damages claim.
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June 17, 2024
Ex-Stimwave CEO Gets 6 Years For Dummy Implant Scheme
The founder and former CEO of Stimwave Technologies was sentenced to six years in prison Monday after tearfully proclaiming her innocence to healthcare fraud charges, with a Manhattan federal judge saying it's "sad" the defendant doesn't recognize the harm she inflicted by selling nonfunctional pain management device components.
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June 17, 2024
Ginnie Mae, HUD Want Bank's Loan Lien Suit Sent To Dallas
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Ginnie Mae pushed for the transfer of Texas Capital Bank's suit in Texas federal court over a vacated loan lien, arguing that the bank is contractually required to file its suit in a different division within the same district.
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June 17, 2024
Consulting Firms To Pay $11.3M Over Rent Help Site Breach
A consulting firm and its subcontractor have agreed to pay $11.3 million to resolve a False Claims Act suit alleging that they allowed the personal data of low-income New Yorkers to be compromised while operating a pandemic-era rental assistance program website.
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June 17, 2024
L3Harris Rips Moog's Counterclaims In $78M Contract Suit
L3Harris Technologies Inc. urged a Florida federal court Friday to throw out breach of contract counterclaims from fellow defense contractor Moog Inc., which it has accused of failing to timely deliver critical satellite parts under several subcontracts worth $77.9 million.
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June 17, 2024
Mass. Dentist Indicted In Alleged $2M Medicaid Fraud
A Massachusetts dentist and her practice have been charged with fraudulently billing the state's Medicaid program, MassHealth, more than $2 million for services that were never provided.
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June 17, 2024
NJ Power Broker, Firm CEO Brother Accused Of Racketeering
Powerful New Jersey businessman George E. Norcross III and his brother who is the chief executive officer of law firm Parker McCay have been criminally charged alongside others in a scheme to acquire waterfront property in the distressed city of Camden using threats of economic and reputational harm.
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June 17, 2024
Justices To Decide If False Claims Act Applies To E-Rate
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether reimbursement requests made to the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program for schools and libraries are "claims" under the False Claims Act.
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June 17, 2024
Justices Will Hear Philly Bridge Project Fraud Case
The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contractor's false promise to give a certain share of its business to minority-owned subcontractors rises to the level of depriving the state agency of property, the court announced Monday.
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June 17, 2024
Justices Reject Dispute Over $3.1B South Korean Military Deal
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to consider the scope of commercial activities in a case brought by a brokerage firm fighting the loss of a $3.1 billion South Korean military satellite deal.
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June 14, 2024
Fla. Court Says Navy Vet Can Sue CNN For Punitive Damages
A Florida state appellate court has ruled that a Navy veteran turned private contractor can include punitive damages in his defamation lawsuit against CNN, saying he made a "sufficient preliminary evidentiary showing" of malice over the network's reporting on evacuating citizens of Afghanistan in 2021.
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June 14, 2024
Utah Gov. And Land Trust Beat Tribe's Bidding Suit, For Now
A federal judge dismissed claims against Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, several state officials and its trust lands administration in a tribe's challenge accusing them of spinning a racist bidding scheme to prevent it from winning a land auction to purchase land just outside its reservation.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 2
Strategy documents recently published by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Space Force confirm the importance of the commercial space sector to the DOD, but say little about achieving the institutional changes needed to integrate commercial capabilities in support of national security in space, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.
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National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 1
The recently published U.S. Department of Defense space strategy represents a recalibration in agency thinking, signaling that the integration of commercial space capabilities has become a necessity and offering guidance for removing structural, procedural and cultural barriers to commercial-sector collaboration, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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Contractors Must Prep For FAR Council GHG Emissions Rule
With the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council expected to finalize its proposed rule on the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk this year, government contractors should take key steps now to get ready, say Thomas Daley at DLA Piper, Steven Rothstein at the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, and John Kostyack at Kostyack Strategies.
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How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case
The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.
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Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content
From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.
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Proposed Semiconductor Buy Ban May Rattle Supply Chains
The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council's recent proposed rulemaking clarifies plans to ban government purchases of semiconductors from certain Chinese companies, creating uncertainty around how contractors will be able to adjust supply chains that are already burdened and contracted to capacity, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Patent Lessons From 4 Federal Circuit Reversals In April
Four Federal Circuit decisions in April that reversed or vacated underlying rulings provide a number of takeaways, including that obviousness analysis requires a flexible approach, that an invalidity issue of an expired patent can be moot, and more, say Denise De Mory and Li Guo at Bunsow De Mory.
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Series
Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer
While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.
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5 Lessons From Ex-Vitol Trader's FCPA Conviction
The recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and money laundering conviction of former Vitol oil trader Javier Aguilar in a New York federal court provides defense takeaways on issues ranging from the definition of “domestic concern” to jury instruction strategy, says attorney Andrew Feldman.