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Government Contracts
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October 28, 2024
Gov't Defends GSA's Ohio Office Lease Award
The federal government has urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to swat down a bid protest from a company claiming the General Services Administration unfairly awarded a 15-year office lease in Ohio to another company.
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October 28, 2024
Feds Defend DEI Monitor Provision In Boeing Plea Deal
The U.S. Department of Justice said it will consider diversity and inclusion when it picks an independent compliance monitor for The Boeing Co. under a proposed plea agreement in the company's criminal conspiracy case, reassuring a Texas federal judge that the selection process will be rigorous.
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October 25, 2024
Entergy Struggles To Challenge FERC Decision At DC Circ.
The D.C. Circuit is set to decide whether or not utility giant Entergy will be allowed to challenge the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's rejection of a plan that would change capacity market rules, after finding that it would give Entergy too much market power.
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October 25, 2024
DC Circ. Could Nix OK Of $8M Equatorial Guinea Award
The D.C. Circuit on Friday appeared willing to consider nixing enforcement of an $8 million arbitral award against Equatorial Guinea issued in a dispute over an ill-fated hospital operating contract, even as the panel spent much of a hearing focusing on the impact of a decade-old U.S. Supreme Court decision.
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October 25, 2024
AT&T Unit Continues To Argue FCA Does Not Apply To E-Rate
Congress could have designed the E-rate program to be distributed by the government using its own money, but it didn't, and that's why reimbursements under the program don't qualify as claims under the False Claims Act, an AT&T subsidiary has told the U.S. Supreme Court.
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October 25, 2024
Green Group Blames NJ For Decline In Sturgeon Population
The state of New Jersey isn't doing enough to prevent the accidental catching of endangered fish, activists said in a lawsuit accusing the state's Department of Environmental Protection of violating the Endangered Species Act.
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October 25, 2024
Claims Court Can't Hear DOJ IT Deal Corrective Action Case
A Court of Federal Claims judge has tossed a dispute over the scope of the U.S. Department of Justice's corrective action on an information technology task order, saying the case fell within a statutory bar on most task order-related protests.
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October 25, 2024
Tenn. Hospitals Want Former Execs Nixed From Kickback Row
A hospital system on Friday urged a North Carolina federal court to dismiss whistleblower claims from former executives alleging the system excessively paid physicians to make referrals in order to receive Medicare and Medicaid money.
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October 25, 2024
Off The Bench: Toss-Up For Ohtani Ball, UFC Fighters' Payday
In this week's Off The Bench, the three claimants to a historic baseball now know how much is at stake for the winner, a long fight against wage suppression for mixed martial arts fighters is a step closer to ending, and WNBA players want a bigger piece of a growing revenue pie.
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October 25, 2024
Va. Man Gets 7½ Years For $15M Gov't Contract Investor Scam
A Virginia man was sentenced Friday to over seven years in prison for defrauding dozens of investors out of $15 million by misleading them into believing that his company had millions of dollars in contracts with federal and state government agencies.
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October 25, 2024
Judge Won't Revisit Ruling On Contractor Registration Clause
A Court of Federal Claims judge has refused to reconsider her ruling that a previously disqualified bidder was eligible for a $45 billion nuclear cleanup deal after fixing a lapsed federal registration, despite a contrary decision by another judge on the court.
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October 25, 2024
'NJWeedman' Claims Harassment For Using 'Batman' Signal
A New Jersey cannabis advocate known as "NJWeedman" has launched a federal lawsuit against the mayor of Trenton, accusing him of unlawful retaliation after he projected a "Batman-like signal image" criticizing the municipal government on the side of City Hall.
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October 25, 2024
Biden Admin Puts Up $4B For Clean Energy, Grid Projects
The Biden administration on Friday said it's handing out approximately $4 billion in combined grants and loans for clean energy purchases and grid upgrades for a slew of states, tribes and electricity co-operatives.
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October 25, 2024
Ga. Woman Gets 12 Years For $30M COVID Fraud Scheme
A Georgia woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday for her role in filing more than 5,000 fraudulent COVID-19 unemployment insurance claims with the Georgia Department of Labor, which resulted in at least $30 million in stolen benefits.
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October 25, 2024
Hawkins Delafield Career Atty Moves To Nixon Peabody In SF
Nixon Peabody LLP hired a Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP partner who has spent his entire legal career with that firm working on public finance tax matters and a range of other tax-related matters, the firm has announced.
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October 25, 2024
Pharmacy Must Pay $39.2M In Conn. Kickback Case
A defunct compounding pharmacy must pay $39.2 million in damages and penalties for its role in a kickback scheme that made illegal payments to Connecticut state employees and retirees, a state court judge ruled Friday while letting the company's proprietor off the hook.
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October 25, 2024
GOP Groups Look To Speed Up Ga. Poll Worker Suit
A trio of county, state and national Republican parties asked a Fulton County, Georgia, judge Thursday to pick up the pace on a suit alleging that the county's elections director has denied their efforts to place poll workers for the November election, arguing the emergency litigation needs to be heard before Nov. 5.
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October 25, 2024
Ga. Court Admin Says Retaliation Suit Must Go Ahead In Full
A former Georgia municipal court administrator who said she was forced out of her position after reporting corruption by a city council member has asked a federal judge to preserve her suit in full, arguing a federal magistrate misapplied a sexual harassment standard to what was better characterized as retaliation claims.
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October 25, 2024
EEOC Gets $110K Default Win In Fired Atty's Retaliation Suit
A government contractor has been ordered to pay its former attorney more than $110,000 in back pay, interest and compensatory damages after a Maryland federal judge found the contractor's CEO retaliated against the lawyer after she turned down his sexual advances.
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October 24, 2024
Broadband Co. Says $168M Peruvian Award Suit Is Valid
A broadband corporation has urged a D.C. federal judge not to toss its lawsuit seeking enforcement of a $168 million arbitral award against telecom service Pronatel, saying the Peruvian state-owned entity is recycling arguments the court has already rejected.
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October 24, 2024
SBA Proposes 'Rule Of Two' For Multiaward Contract Orders
The U.S. Small Business Administration on Thursday proposed that federal agencies give preference to small businesses on orders under multiple-award contracts, a move it estimated could boost small business contracting by up to $6 billion each year.
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October 24, 2024
DOJ Pushes Justices To Revive Bid-Rigging Conviction
Federal prosecutors told the U.S. Supreme Court that the Fourth Circuit got it wrong last year when it vacated the bid-rigging conviction of aluminum pipe maker Contech's former executive, arguing Wednesday that agreements between firms can be per se unlawful even when they have a vertical relationship.
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October 24, 2024
DOJ Reaches $102M Deal In Baltimore Bridge Collapse Suit
The owner and the manager of the cargo ship that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March has agreed to pay $102 million to settle the U.S. Department of Justice's civil lawsuit alleging gross negligence on their part killed six people and destroyed a vital transportation corridor.
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October 24, 2024
Conn. Bar Committee Wants Software Crash Suit Tossed
The Connecticut Bar Examining Committee says a test-taker's federal lawsuit linking her failing grade to computer malfunctions or software crashes must be dismissed, because two different statistical analyses showed her tech woes "likely had no impact on her ultimate score."
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October 24, 2024
Biden Issues Guidelines For National Security Uses Of AI
President Joe Biden issued a memo Thursday on the development and use of artificial intelligence for national security, directing actions such as shoring up the security of computer chip supply chains and ensuring AI is not used to commit human rights violations.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Playing Diplomacy Makes Us Better Lawyers
Similar to the practice of law, the rules of Diplomacy — a strategic board game set in pre-World War I Europe — are neither concise nor without ambiguity, and weekly gameplay with our colleagues has revealed the game's practical applications to our work as attorneys, say Jason Osborn and Ben Bevilacqua at Winston & Strawn.
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Applying High Court's Domestic Corruption Rulings To FCPA
After the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the domestic corruption statutes in three decisions over the past year and a half, it’s worth evaluating whether these rulings may have an impact on Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement, and if attorneys can use the court’s reasoning in international bribery cases, says James Koukios at MoFo.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Debriefings, Timeliness, Documentation
James Tucker at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the Federal Circuit, the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Court of Federal Claims concerning an agency's decision not to hold post-award discussions, a timeliness trap in certain Federal Supply Schedule procurements and the importance of providing contemporaneous documentation in price-evaluation protests.
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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John Deere Penalty Shows Importance Of M&A Due Diligence
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent $10 million penalty against John Deere underscores the risks of not conducting robust preacquisition due diligence and not effectively integrating a new subsidiary into the existing compliance framework, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Series
Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.
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Aviation Watch: Boeing Plea Agreement May Not Serve Public
The proposed plea agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing — the latest outgrowth of the company's 737 Max travails — is opposed by crash victims' families, faces an uncertain fate in court, and may ultimately serve no beneficial purpose, even if approved, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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4 Ways To Prepare For DOD Cyber Certification Rule
Given the U.S. Department of Justice's increased scrutiny of contractor compliance with cybersecurity requirements, it is critical that contractors take certain steps now in response to the U.S. Department of Defense's proposed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification implementation rule, say Townsend Bourne and Lillia Damalouji at Sheppard Mullin.
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Opinion
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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$200M RTX Deal Underscores Need For M&A Due Diligence
RTX's settlement with regulators for violating defense export regulations offers valuable compliance lessons, showcasing the perils of insufficient due diligence during mergers and acquisitions transactions along with the need to ensure remediation measures are fully implemented following noncompliance, say Thad McBride and Faith Dibble at Bass Berry.
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Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
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Navigating Restrictions Following Biotech Bill House Passage
Ahead of the BIOSECURE Act’s potential enactment, companies that obtain equipment from certain Chinese biotechnology companies should consider whether the act would restrict their ability to enter into contracts with the U.S. government and what steps they might take in response, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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SEC Settlement Holds Important Pay-To-Play Lessons
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent fine of an investment adviser, whose new hire made a campaign contribution within a crucial lookback period, is a seasonable reminder for public fund managers to ensure their processes thoroughly screen all associates for even minor violations of the SEC’s strict pay-to-play rule, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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7 Takeaways For Companies After Justices' Bribery Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Snyder v. U.S. decision this summer, holding that a federal law does not criminalize after-the-fact gratuities made to public officials, raises some key considerations for companies that engage with state, local and tribal governments, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.