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Government Contracts
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July 17, 2025
9th Circ. Panel Appears Split On Trump Order Curbing Unions
A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel appeared divided Thursday on a lower court's ruling that halted enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order axing labor contracts covering agencies that have "national security" aims, with one judge expressing concern over the order's implications while two questioned if they can second-guess the president's determination.
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July 17, 2025
COVID Fraudster Says State Can't Rescind Firefighter Pension
A former Connecticut firefighter who pled guilty in relation to a West Haven COVID-19 relief fund scam says he should keep the pension he earned through 26 years of service in a neighboring city, arguing his crime bore no connection to his onetime employment and did not breach his union contract.
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July 17, 2025
11th Circ. Says Ex-Quest Diagnostics Worker's FCA Suit Fails
The Eleventh Circuit declined to revive a former Quest Diagnostics Inc. compliance officer's False Claims Act suit against the lab testing company, ruling she had failed to allege a specific claim of medical billing fraud after some 15 years of litigation.
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July 17, 2025
6 Cases For Patent Attys To Watch In The Second Half Of 2025
The Federal Circuit is considering major questions about when delays in prosecuting patents become bad faith and whether the acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director is legally allowed to apply new rules retroactively. Here's what you need to know about these cases and others that attorneys are keeping an eye on for the rest of the year.
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July 17, 2025
Fla. Judge Rejects US Service Members' Timeshare Claims
A Florida federal judge sided with Holiday Inn Club Vacations Inc. and its timeshare financier on Thursday in a putative class action by two U.S. Air Force members alleging that their timeshare loan contracts violated the Military Lending Act.
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July 17, 2025
Bombing Victims Seek Damages For Iran's Support Of Attacks
Dozens of people allegedly harmed by bombings in Kabul, Afghanistan, have asked a D.C. federal judge to order the Islamic Republic of Iran to pay hundreds of millions of dollars for providing material support for the terrorist attacks.
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July 17, 2025
Mass. Cities Seek Order Forcing Trash Hauler To Honor Pacts
Nearly three weeks after Republic Services workers went on strike, six Massachusetts communities went to court Thursday seeking an order compelling the trash hauler to immediately address what they say is a public health nuisance.
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July 17, 2025
IRS Leaker Asks DC Circ. To Bar Comments By Ex-Employer
A tech worker appealing a five-year sentence for leaking tax returns while on the job at the IRS through contractor Booz Allen asked the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to block his former employer from weighing in, saying the company's opinion that he should finish his prison term is irrelevant.
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July 17, 2025
USDA Should Revisit $22M IT Deal, GAO Says
The U.S. Government Accountability Office urged the Department of Agriculture to reconsider a $22.8 million task order for IT services, saying the agency had failed to meaningfully respond to claims that it was unfair in its evaluation of proposals for the award.
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July 16, 2025
Internet Co. Can't Win $33M Indonesia Judgment In NY Court
A New York federal judge has tossed litigation initiated by a Jakarta, Indonesia-based internet service provider to enforce a $32.7 million judgment against Indonesia following arbitration over a government contract to implement mobile access centers around the country.
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July 16, 2025
Nonprofits Taking Immigrant Legal Aid Fight To DC Circ.
Nonprofit groups that are trying to stop the U.S. Department of Justice from cutting off funding to four programs that provide legal information to noncitizens are taking their fight with the Trump administration to the D.C. Circuit after a federal judge killed their lawsuit.
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July 16, 2025
GAO Tells Congress Loser-Pays Model Not Needed
The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a letter to Congress that it does not endorse creating a loser-pays model for unsuccessful protests of defense contracts because sufficient measures already exist to limit the impact of protests filed without a substantial basis.
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July 16, 2025
Union Pension Fund Says Cos. Can't Get Fees In ERISA Row
A Tennessee federal judge should deny two companies' "extraordinary" request for a union pension fund to cover their attorney fees in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act dispute, the union argued Wednesday, saying the section of ERISA the lawsuit was lodged under doesn't allow for attorney fee awards.
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July 16, 2025
FEMA Targeted In 20-State Suit Over Pre-Disaster Grant Cuts
A coalition of 20 states led by Washington and Massachusetts sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Boston federal court Wednesday, accusing the Trump administration of illegally cutting off billions of dollars in grants for proactive disaster mitigation projects across the country.
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July 16, 2025
Judge Says Navy Must Face Contamination Claim At Calif. Site
A Court of Federal Claims judge trimmed some but not all claims from a suit alleging the Navy breached its obligation to remediate newly discovered petroleum and chloroform contamination at a Novato, California, property it sold two decades ago.
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July 15, 2025
Trump Admin Seeks Win In Harvard $2B Funding Freeze Case
The Trump administration urged a Massachusetts federal judge Monday to grant it summary judgment in Harvard University's lawsuit challenging the government's effort to freeze $2.2 billion in funding, arguing the dispute is a contract fight that belongs in the Federal Claims Court and the allegations fail on the merits.
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July 15, 2025
Patent Fight Over Xtandi Erupts Anew Before RFK Jr.
A new dispute is playing out over the price of a prostate cancer drug that was developed at University of California, Los Angeles, and is being sold by Pfizer, with the federal government being pushed on the issue of using its authority to allow early entry of generics.
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July 15, 2025
Protest Over $985M Migrant Kid Transport Deal Deemed Moot
A Court of Federal Claims judge threw out a protest lodged against the General Services Administration over its decision to award a nearly $1 billion transportation and logistics contract for unaccompanied children in federal custody to a competitor.
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July 15, 2025
4th Circ. Won't Rethink Affirmance Of $8M KBR Award
The Fourth Circuit will not be rethinking its decision rebuff a Kuwaiti construction company's attempt to nix an $8 million arbitral award favoring Kellogg Brown & Root International, the appeals court has ruled.
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July 15, 2025
Texas Cities Cite Gov't Immunity In Farmers' PFAS Suit
Governmental entities led by Fort Worth submitted a brief to a Texas federal court Tuesday supporting their immunity in managing wastewater operations in connection with a proposed class action from farmers who claim their lands were contaminated by toxic chemicals.
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July 15, 2025
Delta To Pay $8.1M To End FCA Whistleblower Suit
Delta Air Lines Inc. on Tuesday agreed to pay $8.1 million to settle whistleblower claims that it paid some corporate officers and other employees beyond compensation limits the airline agreed to under a Treasury Department pandemic relief program.
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July 15, 2025
Booz Allen Urges DC Circ. To Affirm IRS Leak Sentence
Government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton urged the D.C. Circuit to uphold the five-year prison sentence of its former employee for leaking tax returns while on a job at the IRS, saying the crime has hurt the company's reputation and subjected it to "baseless lawsuits."
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July 15, 2025
Washington Wall Maker Will Pay $3.3M To Settle FCA Claims
A Washington state company that makes rigid wall shelters agreed to pay $3.3 million to settle allegations over false claims submitted under prime vendor contracts the U.S. Department of Defense used to buy goods and services, according to federal prosecutors.
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July 15, 2025
Denver Defends Affordable Housing Fees, Citing Alternatives
The city of Denver has urged a Colorado federal court to toss a homebuilder's suit challenging the constitutionality of an affordable housing fee for new development, arguing the developer's claims overlook a clause that allows it to construct affordable housing as an alternative.
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July 15, 2025
GAO Denies Protest Over Air Force Deals For Saudi Base Work
The U.S. Government Accountability Office denied a Texas company's protest alleging that a botched U.S. Air Force bid evaluation kept it from being tapped for one of a half dozen contracts for projects at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Expert Analysis
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8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work
Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.
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Kousisis Concurrence Maps FCA Defense To Anti-DEI Suits
Justice Clarence Thomas' recent concurrence in Kousisis v. U.S. lays out how federal funding recipients could use the high standard for materiality in government fraud cases to fight the U.S. Justice Department’s threatened False Claims Act suits against payees deviating from the administration’s anti-DEI policies, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.
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Justices' Review Of Fluor May Alter Gov't Contractor Liability
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to review Hencely v. Fluor, a case involving a soldier’s personal injury claims against a government contractor, suggests the justices could reconsider a long-standing test for determining whether contractors are shielded from state-tort liability, says Lisa Himes at Rogers Joseph.
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ICSID Annulment Proceedings Carry High Stakes For System
The annulment proceedings brought by Freeport-McMoRan before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, seeking to redress a glaring and prejudicial oversight in its arbitral award against Peru, are significant for delimiting the boundaries of procedural fairness within the ICSID's annulment framework, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.
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How Ending OFCCP Will Affect Affirmative Action Obligations
As President Donald Trump's administration plans to eliminate the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces federal contractor antidiscrimination compliance and affirmative action program obligations, contractors should consider the best compliance approaches available to them, especially given the False Claims Act implications, say attorneys at Ogletree.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients
Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.
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Measuring The Scope Of COFC's Telesto Bid Protest Ruling
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims described its recent denial of bid protest jurisdiction in Telesto v. U.S. over other transaction agreements as a modest departure from prior decisions, but the holding also makes it difficult to distinguish between a follow-on procurement and a definitive agreement to proceed, say lawyers at Wiley.
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm
My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.
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Opinion
FCPA Shift Is A Good Start, But There's More DOJ Should Do
The U.S. Department of Justice’s new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act guidelines bring a needed course correction amid overexpansive enforcement, but there’s more the DOJ can do to provide additional clarity and predictability for global companies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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CARES Act Fraud Enforcement Is Unlikely To Slow Down
In the five years since the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, the federal government has devoted massive resources to investigating CARES Act fraud — and all signs suggest the U.S. Department of Justice will continue vigorous enforcement in this area, say attorneys at Kostelanetz.
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Opinion
Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System
The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.
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Series
Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer
To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.
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4 Precautions For Responsible AI Use In Bid Protests
Despite the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s May warning that it will impose stiff sanctions on bid protesters whose filings contain artificial intelligence-generated mistakes and hallucinations, generative AI can be a valuable tool for the bid protest bar if used with safeguards, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Rejecting Biz Dev Myths
Law schools don’t spend sufficient time dispelling certain myths that prevent young lawyers from exploring new business opportunities, but by dismissing these misguided beliefs, even an introverted first-year associate with a small network of contacts can find long-term success, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
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Move Beyond Surface-Level Edits To Master Legal Writing
Recent instances in which attorneys filed briefs containing artificial intelligence hallucinations offer a stark reminder that effective revision isn’t just about superficial details like grammar — it requires attorneys to critically engage with their writing and analyze their rhetorical choices, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.