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Government Contracts
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June 24, 2024
Construction Super Says Name Was Secretly Used On Permits
A unit of construction engineering firm Structural Group Inc. improperly used the name of a licensed construction supervisor on at least half a dozen Massachusetts projects in which he was not involved, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Norfolk County Superior Court.
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June 21, 2024
Quinn Emanuel Rips Columbia's 'Utterly Meritless' Filing Bid
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP told the Federal Circuit on Friday that Columbia University's bid to introduce a former Norton Lifelock computer scientist's declaration claiming the company's former lawyers at the firm are lying about his refusal to testify in the school's decade-long $600 million patent case is "utterly meritless."
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June 21, 2024
Lockheed Units To Pay $70M To End FCA Cost Inflation Suit
Sikorsky Support Services Inc. and Derco Aerospace Inc. have agreed to pay $70 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging that they overcharged the U.S. Navy for spare parts and materials for training aircraft through an illegal subcontracting arrangement, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
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June 21, 2024
Fed Circ. Revives Gov't Defenses In Land Underpayment Case
The Federal Circuit on Friday revived a dispute alleging that the U.S. Forest Service underpaid for a property, saying the U.S. Court of Federal Claims wrongly rejected the agency's arguments that the seller shouldn't have relied on a disputed appraisal when selling.
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June 21, 2024
Watchdog Backs NASA's Move To Cut Bid For $2B Deal
A federal watchdog rejected a Science Applications International Corp.'s efforts to rejoin competition for a $2 billion National Aeronautics and Space Administration deal, saying in a decision released Friday that NASA sufficiently explained why it found SAIC's bid noncompetitive.
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June 21, 2024
Union Tells 1st Circ. It's Fit To Bring Debt Cap Challenge
A U.S. government workers' union challenging the constitutionality of the debt ceiling urged the First Circuit to ignore the Biden administration's argument that union members couldn't explain how it harms them, saying it's reasonable to expect their paychecks will be suspended when it is reimposed.
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June 21, 2024
'Unexplained' Census Bureau Contract Cancellation Reversed
The U.S. Census Bureau failed to properly explain why it canceled a contract award to an information technology firm after two of the company's competitors challenged the award, a federal claims court judge has determined.
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June 21, 2024
GAO Says CMS Didn't Address Contractor Conflict Of Interest
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has backed a protest over a $30.65 million Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services analytics task order, saying CMS failed to properly account for a conflict of interest involving a proposed subcontractor for the awardee.
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June 21, 2024
Feds Offer $850M To Slash Methane From Oil And Gas
The Biden administration on Friday unveiled the latest prong of its multifaceted plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector: $850 million worth of federal funding for projects that monitor, measure and reduce emissions from oil and gas infrastructure.
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June 20, 2024
NC Agency Hit With Race Bias Suit Over $17.8M Project
The North Carolina Department of Transportation and one of its contractors subjected Black employees of a subcontractor to "flagrant racial discrimination," according to a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.
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June 20, 2024
DOI Secretary Looks To Ax Insurer's $20M Tribal Loan Claims
U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is seeking a win in a challenge over the cancelation of a $20 million tribal loan guarantee, arguing that an Ohio federal district court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over Great American Life Insurance Co.'s remaining claims.
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June 20, 2024
HHS Drug Pricing Program Flouts Constitution, Boehringer Says
An "unprecedented" new Medicare price negotiation program deprives drugmakers of their constitutional rights and forces them to make declarations on issues of public concern that reflect poorly on them, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. argued Thursday in Connecticut federal court as it echoed the industry chorus seeking to strike the initiative.
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June 20, 2024
Worker Says Co. Inflated Deductions To Duck Prevailing Wage
An electrical contracting firm overdeducted fringe benefits from the pay of employees who worked on publicly funded projects, dragging down their prevailing wages, a former electrician said in a proposed class action in Pennsylvania state court.
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June 20, 2024
Judge Won't Stay Ruling That Prompted Navy Debarment
A Court of Federal Claims judge has refused to stay his judgment rejecting a company's protest over the termination of a Navy task order, a ruling that prompted the Navy to propose debarring the company, saying a stay wouldn't affect the debarment process.
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June 20, 2024
Meet The Bridgegate Atty For NJ Power Broker In RICO Case
Law360 Pulse caught up with Michael Critchley Sr., counsel for recently indicted New Jersey Democratic power broker George E. Norcross III, and lawyers who know him about his decadeslong track record of successful legal defenses in high-profile cases and how he’s preparing for his latest challenge.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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Practical Steps For Navigating New Sanctions On Russia
After the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia – the largest to date since the Ukraine war began – companies will need to continue to strengthen due diligence and compliance measures to navigate the related complexities, say James Min and Chelsea Ellis at Rimon.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Conflict, Latent Ambiguity, Cost Realism
In this month's bid protest roundup, Markus Speidel at MoFo examines a trio of U.S. Government Accountability Office decisions with takeaways about the consequences of a teaming partner's organizational conflict of interest, a solicitation's latent ambiguity and an unreasonable agency cost adjustment.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Valeant Ruling May Pave Way For Patent-Based FCA Suits
The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Silbersher v. Valeant marks a significant development in False Claims Act jurisprudence, opens new avenues for litigation and potentially raises the stakes for patent applicants who intend to do business with the government, say Joshua Robbins and Rick Taché at Buchalter.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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Unpacking The New Russia Sanctions And Export Controls
Although geographically broad new prohibitions the U.S., U.K. and EU issued last week are somewhat underwhelming in their efforts to target third-country facilitators of Russia sanctions evasion, companies with exposure to noncompliant jurisdictions should pay close attention to their potential impacts, say attorneys at Shearman.
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Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Mitigating Whistleblower Risks After High Court UBS Ruling
While it is always good practice for companies to periodically review whistleblower trainings, policies and procedures, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent whistleblower-friendly ruling in Murray v. UBS Securities helps demonstrate their importance in reducing litigation risk, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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A Cautionary Tale On Hospital-Physician Alignment Structures
A $345 million settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Community Health Network highlights how quickly hospital and physician alignment relationships can violate legal restrictions on such dealings, and the onerous financial penalties that can ensue, say Robert Threlkeld and Elliott Coward at Morris Manning.
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Contract Disputes Recap: The Terms Matter
Stephanie Magnell and Zachary Jacobson at Seyfarth examine recent decisions from the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which offer reminders about the importance of including contract terms to address the unexpected circumstances that may interfere with performance.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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Opinion
Biden Admin's March-In Plan Would Hurt Medical Innovation
The Biden administration's proposal to reinterpret the Bayh-Dole Act and allow the government to claw back patents when it determines that a commercialized product's price is too high would discourage private investment in important research and development, says Ken Thorpe at the Rollins School of Public Health.