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Government Contracts
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May 15, 2024
Flexibility In Info Security Policy May Add Compliance Burden
New federal guidance for contractors handling sensitive, but unclassified information could introduce confusion and compliance burdens if agencies implement security controls without consulting contractors.
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May 15, 2024
House Panel Weighs Baltimore Bridge Rebuilding Costs
Rebuilding Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge may cost up to $1.9 billion and take at least four years, as accident investigators continue to examine how a cargo ship slammed into the bridge in March and knocked it down, officials told a House panel Wednesday.
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May 15, 2024
Media Coverage Not Enough To Move Flint Water Case
A water engineering company accused by the Michigan attorney general of prolonging Flint residents' lead exposure cannot move its eventual trial out of the region, a Michigan state judge ruled Wednesday, saying the company could not assume the entire jury pool was biased.
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May 15, 2024
Moving Coalition Urges GAO To Probe $20B DOD Moving Deal
Over 250 moving industry members are urging the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate a multibillion-dollar contract having a single company manage moving services for the U.S. Department of Defense, saying the deal might not be as achievable as hoped.
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May 15, 2024
House-Passed FAA Reauthorization Bill Now Heads To Biden
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved multiyear legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration's safety and airport improvement programs, sending to President Joe Biden a package that would hire more air traffic controllers and enhance passenger protections amid high-profile aviation industry mishaps.
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May 15, 2024
Feds Tell Justices $3.1B Satellite Deal Isn't Reviewable
The Biden administration has urged the U.S. Supreme Court against reviewing an order dismissing claims that a contractor was pushed out of a $3.1 billion military satellite deal, saying the transaction was a sovereign action shielded from court review.
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May 15, 2024
DC Judge Urged To Halt Offshore Wind Project Construction
Advocacy groups and a cohort of Rhode Island residents want a D.C. federal judge to halt construction on a wind farm off the coast of the Ocean State while they press claims that the federal government violated myriad environmental laws in approving the project.
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May 14, 2024
The PREP Immunity Question Won't Be Decided Yet
The Federal Circuit opted Tuesday not to say whether a 2005 public health law provides any legal immunity in a patent dispute between rival manufacturers of COVID-19 test swabs, leaving the thorny question unanswered.
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May 14, 2024
Vein Tech Maker Faces Investor Suit Over DOJ Kickback Probe
Vein disease device maker Inari Medical Inc. and three of its current and former executives face a proposed investor class action over claims that the company's share price fell after it disclosed an investigation into its compliance with federal anti-kickback laws.
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May 14, 2024
Boeing Can't Beat Rival's Trade Secrets Claim, 11th Circ. Hints
Counsel for Boeing attempted to convince the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday that a rival aircraft company's bid to claim unjust enrichment amid a long-running U.S. Air Force contract fight should be barred by contract language that waived claims for damages stemming from Boeing's allegedly underhanded bidding tactics.
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May 14, 2024
NIST Finalizes Revised Security Guidelines For Sensitive Info
The National Institute of Standards and Technology on Tuesday released a final version of revised guidelines for contractors and other entities who handle sensitive unclassified federal information, intended to clarify and streamline those requirements.
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May 14, 2024
Aerospace Co. Hit With $450M Engine Parts Antitrust Suit
RTX Corp. subsidiary Pratt & Whitney got hit with a $450 million antitrust lawsuit by a parts supplier who says the company and its Canadian arm are using illegal agreements to monopolize the aftermarket supply of their PT6 and PW100 turboprop engine components.
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May 14, 2024
Judge Trims More From Prison Phone Co.'s Antitrust Suit
Prison telephone service provider Global Tel Link and a Pennsylvania county now have one fewer claim to face in a lawsuit accusing them of sinking a rival company's chance at winning a contract with the county, after a federal court trimmed away yet another claim.
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May 14, 2024
Feds Dodge Salt Lake City's Suit Over $1B Gondola Plan
A Utah federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the federal government from a Salt Lake City lawsuit challenging federal approvals of a $1 billion plan to address traffic congestion by building the world's longest gondola.
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May 14, 2024
NY Court System Immune To Spanish-Speaker's Bias Case
The New York Unified Court System can't be sued in federal court by a Spanish speaker whose limited English language skills allegedly barred him from a program that could have reduced a drug offense's severity, the New York federal court has ruled.
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May 14, 2024
Keep It Short, And Other Advice From Fed. Circ. Judges
Six Federal Circuit judges counseled a packed room of attorneys on Tuesday about the most common ways to ruin their own cases, such as talking too much at oral argument, adding additional citations and attacking judges or opposing counsel.
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May 14, 2024
Pa. Justices Vexed By DA Funding In Kleinbard Bill Dispute
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court seemed to want more information Tuesday about the source of the former Lancaster County district attorney's "program funds" before wading into whether the DA had the discretion to spend those funds on Kleinbard LLC's legal fees rather than asking his county commissioners for approval.
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May 13, 2024
Kabbage Inks 2 FCA Deals With Feds Totaling $120M
Bankrupt online lender Kabbage Inc. has agreed to pay $120 million in two separate deals to resolve allegations it submitted thousands of false claims for loan forgiveness and operated without adequate fraud controls in place, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
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May 13, 2024
Wall Fraud Conviction Affirmed Despite Juror-Prosecutor Tie
The Second Circuit on Monday affirmed the conviction of a Colorado man found to have siphoned online donations meant to fund a Southern border wall, saying the fact that a federal prosecutor had mentored a juror's daughter didn't warrant vacating the conviction.
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May 13, 2024
Construction Co. Says Guatemala Can't Exit $31M Award Suit
A construction and engineering firm has asked a D.C. federal court not to toss its litigation to enforce $31 million in arbitral awards against Guatemala that arose from unpaid public works contracts, saying local courts already denied the country's claim the awards violate domestic law.
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May 13, 2024
Watchdog Nixes Bidder's Protest To Low $159M Air Force Deal
The U.S. Government Accountability Office said an aviation company couldn't question the feasibility of a rival's $159 million U.S. Air Force flight training contract, when the service branch never indicated it would check if bidders' prices were realistic.
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May 13, 2024
E-Rate Requests Aren't FCA Claims, Law Group Tells Justices
The Washington Legal Foundation urged the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether reimbursement requests for the Federal Communications Commission's E-Rate program are "claims" under the False Claims Act, arguing that a Seventh Circuit ruling that answered in the affirmative threatens wide-ranging consequences beyond the E-Rate program.
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May 13, 2024
Co. Says Typo Wrongly Cost It Shot At $10B Army IT Deal
An information technology firm has urged the Court of Federal Claims to restore its eligibility for a pending $10 billion U.S. Army IT hardware procurement, saying the Army wrongly excluded the company for one missing word in its proposal.
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May 13, 2024
Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Kleinbard Bill Battle Starts May
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will weigh the spending powers of district attorneys in a Kleinbard LLC bill battle and whether an appeals court overstepped by greenlighting a hospital closure when the May argument lineup begins Tuesday.
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May 13, 2024
Texas, Mo. Say Border Contractors Lack Interests To Defend
Texas and Missouri have slammed contractors' attempts to defend the Biden administration's plans to use border wall construction funds to remediate existing barriers, telling a Texas federal court that the group lacks a direct interest in the case's outcome.
Expert Analysis
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What New Calif. Strike Force Means For White Collar Crimes
The recently announced Central District of California strike force targeting complex corporate and securities fraud — following the Northern District of California's model — combines experienced prosecutorial leadership and partnerships with federal agencies like the IRS and FBI, and could result in an uptick in the number of cases and speed of proceedings, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Standing And A Golden Rule
In this month's bid protest roundup, Victoria Angle at MoFo examines one recent decision that clarifies the elements necessary to establish prejudice and federal claims court standing in multiphase protests, and two that exemplify a government procurements golden rule.
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Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout
While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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Grant Compliance Takeaways From Ga. Tech's FCA Settlement
Georgia Tech’s recent False Claims Act settlement over its failure to detect compliance shortcomings in a grant program was unique in that it involved a voluntary repayment of funds prior to the resolution, offering a few key lessons for universities receiving research funding from the government, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Series
Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.
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ASBCA Ruling May Pave Way For Pandemic-Related Claims
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals’ recent decision that the government failed to meet its evidentiary burden when it sought dismissal under the sovereign acts doctrine offers hope to contractors and subcontractors that faced performance challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, say Edward Arnold and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth.
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Opinion
White Collar Plea Deals Are Rarely 'Knowing' And 'Voluntary'
Because prosecutors are not required to disclose exculpatory evidence during plea negotiations, white collar defendants often enter into plea deals that don’t meet the U.S. Supreme Court’s “knowing” and “voluntary” standard for trials — but individual courts and solutions judges could rectify the issue, says Sara Kropf at Kropf Moseley.
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EEO-1 Ruling May Affect Other Gov't Agency Disclosures
By tightly construing a rarely litigated but frequently asserted term, a California federal court’s ruling that the Freedom of Information Act does not exempt reports to the U.S. Department of Labor on workplace demographics could expand the range of government contractor information susceptible to public disclosure, says John Zabriskie at Foley & Lardner.
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2 SEC Orders Illuminate Bribery Risks For US-China Cos.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s foreign bribery-related resolutions with 3M and Clear Channel offer important takeaways on compliance risks for companies with operations in China, from the role of traditionally low-risk vendors to gaps in internal accounting controls, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.
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The Legal Industry Needs A Cybersecurity Paradigm Shift
As law firms face ever-increasing risks of cyberattacks and ransomware incidents, the legal industry must implement robust cybersecurity measures and privacy-centric practices to preserve attorney-client privilege, safeguard client trust and uphold the profession’s integrity, says Ryan Paterson at Unplugged.
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5 Reasons Associates Shouldn't Take A Job Just For Money
As a number of BigLaw firms increase salary scales for early-career attorneys, law students and lateral associates considering new job offers should weigh several key factors that may matter more than financial compensation, say Albert Tawil at Lateral Hub and Ruvin Levavi at Power Forward.
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Contract Disputes Recap: Jurisdictional Challenges
Stephanie Magnell and Bret Marfut at Seyfarth examine three recent cases illustrating that, on top of being comprehensive and well-considered, claims submitted to contracting officers must be prepared to withstand future government motions to dismiss appeals for lack of jurisdiction.
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New SDNY Whistleblower Program May Be A Game-Changer
A new pilot program in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York promises to immunize from prosecution certain individuals who blow the whistle on financial crimes and corruption, and if similar self-disclosure programs are any indication, this significant new policy may measurably increase white collar investigations, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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Series
Playing Competitive Tennis Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experience playing competitive tennis has highlighted why prioritizing exercise and stress relief, maintaining perspective under pressure, and supporting colleagues in pursuit of a common goal are all key aspects of championing a successful legal career, says Madhumita Datta at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
The Pop Culture Docket: Judge Djerassi On Super Bowl 52
Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Ramy Djerassi discusses how Super Bowl 52, in which the Philadelphia Eagles prevailed over the New England Patriots, provides an apt metaphor for alternative dispute resolution processes in commercial business cases.