ÃÛÌÒÊÓÆµ

Government Contracts

  • May 22, 2025

    High Court Declines To Narrow Reach Of Federal Fraud Law

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that using deceptive means to induce a business transaction may still be a crime even if the defendant doesn't seek to cause economic loss, a departure from earlier decisions that have narrowed the scope of federal fraud statutes.

  • May 21, 2025

    Judge Prolongs Pause On Trump's HUD, DOT Grant DEI Limits

    A Washington federal judge Wednesday extended a block on federal grant conditions limiting homelessness aid and transportation funding to recipients who align with the Trump administration's policies against diversity and inclusion programming, as nearly two dozen localities joined New York, San Francisco and others challenging the terms.

  • May 21, 2025

    Judge Mulls National Scope Of Bid To Restore COVID Grants

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge Wednesday mulled whether it would be appropriate to issue a nationwide injunction blocking the termination of $11 billion public health grants set aside under COVID-era laws in a lawsuit brought by four local governments and a public sector union.

  • May 21, 2025

    American Tells United To Butt Out Of O'Hare Gate Dispute

    American Airlines has urged an Illinois federal court to not allow rival carrier United to intervene in its lawsuit alleging the city of Chicago breached its contract with the airline by reassigning gate space at O'Hare International Airport, arguing its competitor has no right to wade into a case concerning "a lease to which it is not a party and which grants it no rights or benefits."

  • May 21, 2025

    Court Won't Revive Mental Health Class Suit Against Fla. Blue

    A Florida appeals court Wednesday declined to revive a proposed class suit by state employees enrolled in a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida healthcare plan alleging the insurer designed a claims process to obstruct approval and payment of claims for mental health care.

  • May 21, 2025

    School Shooting Victims' Suits Tossed After 6th Circ. Ruling

    Lawsuits brought by the families of students who were killed in or affected by the 2021 shooting at an Oxford, Michigan, high school have been dismissed by a federal judge, a few months after the Sixth Circuit determined the school leaders' actions or inactions the morning of the shooting did not increase students' risk of harm.

  • May 21, 2025

    Ky. Judge Nixes Treasury's Bid To End Labor Contracts

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury lacks standing to seek an order allowing it to lawfully terminate its labor contracts with a federal employee union, a Kentucky federal judge ruled, finding the agency's alleged harm is based on speculation about the potential consequences of enforcing an executive order.

  • May 21, 2025

    DOGE Seeks High Court's Help In Ducking FOIA Discovery

    The Department of Government Efficiency asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to halt discovery into whether it's an agency subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, arguing a Washington, D.C., federal judge has improperly authorized a "fishing expedition" into the internal workings of a presidential advisory entity.

  • May 21, 2025

    Untimely Protest Dooms Challenge To VA Deal, GAO Says

    A North Carolina company missed the window to challenge a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs contract award, in part by waiting for a response to an email stating the department's computer server rejected its quotation, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said.

  • May 21, 2025

    Lighting Biz Will Pay $300K For Providing Chinese Goods

    A Connecticut lighting company and its owner have reached a $300,000 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve allegations it sold Chinese-made products to several government agencies in violation of the Buy American Act and the Trade Agreements Act.

  • May 20, 2025

    Judge Questions Bank's Role In Jail Debit Card Fee Dispute

    A federal magistrate judge in Washington state signaled Tuesday she might advance a debit card fee class action against a Missouri bank to trial, suggesting there's still a factual dispute as to whether the prepaid cards were forced on people trying to regain access to their money after being released from correctional facilities. 

  • May 20, 2025

    GAO Tells Congress New Court Design Guide Drives Up Costs

    The Government Accountability Office's director of physical infrastructure testified Tuesday that the judiciary is working to address its October report finding that the U.S. Courts' updated design guide will significantly increase the size and cost of future courthouse projects.

  • May 20, 2025

    Medical Organizations Sue Feds For Removing Health Data

    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and several constituent agencies are accused of violating the Administrative Procedure Act by illegally purging websites containing critical public health information related to trans and HIV care, vaccines and the prevention of outbreaks of communicable diseases, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington federal court.

  • May 20, 2025

    Moderna Says Order To Narrow Vax IP Case Should Stay

    Moderna has said that a federal judge should ignore a rival mRNA developer's request to rethink his decision limiting issues in a patent suit over the company's COVID-19 vaccines, saying the rival is trying to make new arguments too late.

  • May 20, 2025

    Gov't Says Unions Too Slow In Calling For Halt Of Restructure

    President Donald Trump called for a California federal judge to tank an injunction bid from unions and advocacy groups about his executive order instructing agencies to plan for reductions in force, arguing the request was delayed and the district court lacks jurisdiction.

  • May 20, 2025

    Injunction On Trump Order Limited To Perkins, Judge Clarifies

    A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday clarified the scope of her injunction blocking President Donald Trump's executive order targeting Perkins Coie LLP, explaining that her ruling prohibits the president from directing government agencies to investigate only Perkins Coie's employment practices and not the other BigLaw firms.

  • May 20, 2025

    NJ Justices Take Up Bond Marketing Suit Against Big Banks

    The New Jersey Supreme Court will review a lower appellate court's ruling in favor of JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Wells Fargo and other big banks in a lawsuit accusing them of a scheme to inflate the interest rates of certain bonds, according to an order list the justices released Tuesday.

  • May 20, 2025

    Sales Exec Admits Role In $70M Brain Scan Kickback Scheme

    A former operations and regional sales manager for a mobile medical diagnostic company has agreed to plead guilty to taking part in a $70.6 million conspiracy to pay kickbacks to doctors who ordered unnecessary brain scans, Massachusetts federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.

  • May 20, 2025

    Unions Eye Nix Of NJ Transit Suit Over Picket Line

    Two unions sued by NJ Transit over their refusal to cross the picket line in the now-resolved rail strike told a New Jersey federal court that since their members have returned to work, the case is now moot.

  • May 20, 2025

    GAO Urges Audit Agency To Assess Public Accountant Plans

    The Defense Contract Audit Agency should formally assess its future plans for a program that has independent public accountants performing some of the cost audits needed to close out certain defense contracts, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday.

  • May 20, 2025

    State AGs Back NJ Judicial Privacy Law At 3rd Circ.

    Most states' attorneys general, along with law enforcement organizations and a data privacy group, have encouraged the Third Circuit to uphold a New Jersey judicial privacy measure, saying states have sovereignty to enact such laws in a time of increased threats against judges.

  • May 20, 2025

    Nursing Homes Facing 'Corporate Death Penalty' Owe $15.4M

    The companies behind two Pittsburgh-area nursing homes convicted of falsifying staffing records were ordered Tuesday to pay a total of $15.35 million in restitution to the federal government, though the corporations' attorney told the judge that they had already received a "corporate death penalty" for their conviction.

  • May 19, 2025

    Feds To Use FCA To Go After Antisemitism, DEI Policies

    The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it will use the False Claims Act to go after any recipients of federal funds that the agency determines promote diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and allow antisemitism to thrive.

  • May 19, 2025

    Feds Can Recoup Overpayment For Nixed Contract

    The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals ordered an engineering firm to repay $283,000 to the federal government, which alleged that it overpaid the company in connection with a contract to build a fuel-to-power generation system for unmanned vehicles.

  • May 19, 2025

    DuPont And Garden State Clash In PFAS Trial Opener

    New Jersey and E.I. du Pont de Nemours were at odds on Monday in federal court over the risks and cleanup of "forever chemical" contamination at a Salem County manufacturing facility, with the state claiming it was intentionally misled and DuPont arguing the state is changing the rules.

Expert Analysis

  • Republican Trifecta Amplifies Risks For Cos. In 3 Key Areas

    Author Photo

    Expected coordination between a Republican Congress and presidential administration may expose companies to simultaneous criminal, civil and congressional investigations, particularly with regard to supply chain risks in certain industries, government contracting and cross-border investment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Bid Protest Spotlight: Certification, Lateness, SBA Eligibility

    Author Photo

    In this month's bid protest roundup, Cody Fisher at MoFo examines three recent decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Government Accountability Office that address the treatment of a proposal that was timely submitted but received late, and highlight nuances of certification and small business eligibility requirements.

  • 7 Ways 2nd Trump Administration May Affect Partner Hiring

    Author Photo

    President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House will likely have a number of downstream effects on partner hiring in the legal industry, from accelerated hiring timelines to increased vetting of prospective employees, say recruiters at Macrae.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Custodian Selection

    Author Photo

    Several recent rulings make clear that the proportionality of additional proposed custodians will depend on whether the custodians have unique relevant documents, and producing parties should consider whether information already in the record will show that they have relevant documents that otherwise might not be produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • The OIG Report: Preparing For Oversight In 2025

    Author Photo

    Across sectors, Office of Inspector General work plans and challenge reports for 2025 provide a trove of information on the issues and industries that will likely be the focus of government oversight in the year to come, says Diana Shaw at Wiley.

  • Series

    Exercising On My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    While I originally came to the Peloton bike for exercise, one cycling instructor’s teachings have come to serve as a road map for practicing law thoughtfully and mindfully, which has opened opportunities for growth and change in my career, says Andrea Kirshenbaum at Littler.

  • Opinion

    Aviation Watch: How Court Nixed Boeing Plea Deal Over DEI

    Author Photo

    A Texas federal court's rejection of the plea agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing over the 737 Max aircraft gratuitously injected the court's views on diversity, equity and inclusion into a case that shouldn't have been a criminal matter in the first place, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • How New Fraud Enforcement Tool Affects Gov't Contractors

    Author Photo

    Government contractors will likely face greater scrutiny under the recently enacted Administrative False Claims Act, which broadens federal agencies' authority to pursue low-dollar fraud claims, but contractors may also find the act makes settlement of such claims easier to negotiate, say attorneys at Wiley.

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

    Author Photo

    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Series

    Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.

  • An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

    Author Photo

    As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.

  • How White Collar Enforcement May Shift In Trump's 2nd Term

    Author Photo

    After President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next month, the administration’s emphasis on immigration laws, drug offenses and violent crime will likely reduce the focus on white collar crime overall, but certain areas within the white collar world may see increased activity, say attorneys at Keker Van Nest.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Adjustments, Preclusion, Waivers

    Author Photo

    Ken Kanzawa at Seyfarth examines three recent decisions from the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals that examine distinctions between requests for equitable adjustments and claims, forum selection and res judicata, and the waiver of penalties for expressly unallowable costs.

  • Series

    Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team

    Author Photo

    In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Government Contracts archive.