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Government Contracts
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September 27, 2024
Medical Equipment Co., Founder Settle FCA Suit For $20M
A Florida-based medical equipment company and its founder will pay $20 million to settle claims under the federal False Claims Act that they improperly billed government healthcare plans for duplicated and unnecessary sales of devices meant to offer pain relief through electrical stimulation, Pennsylvania prosecutors said Friday.
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September 26, 2024
Texas Supreme Court Leaves State Fair Gun Ban Intact
The state's high court rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's attempt to toss out the State Fair of Texas' new policy prohibiting fairgoers from carrying handguns, with three justices finding in a late Thursday opinion that, as a private entity, the State Fair has the right to determine if people carry guns at the fair.
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September 26, 2024
Seattle Firm Seeks $143M In Tunnel Machine Insurance Trial
A Seattle construction contractor told a Washington state jury on Wednesday its insurers owe $143 million for repairs to a massive tunneling machine that sustained "catastrophic damage" when it struck a steel pipe underground in 2013, urging jurors to reject the defense that the claim fell under a "machinery breakdown" exclusion.
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September 26, 2024
GEO Agrees To Let Labor Inspectors Into Wash. ICE Facility
A Washington federal judge on Wednesday signed off on an agreement between the state of Washington and private prison operator GEO Group Inc. to allow state labor inspectors access to an immigration detention facility GEO owns and operates for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
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September 26, 2024
GAO Faults Amentum For Not Being Forthright In Contract Bid
Amentum Services Inc. got no support from the U.S. Government Accountability Office for its protest over getting rebuffed on an $840 federal contract in Iraq, with the watchdog finding that two of the company's subcontractors weren't licensed to work in Iraq.
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September 26, 2024
Senate Bill Calls For Stronger Healthcare Cyber Standards
Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday aiming to better protect patient health information and avoid cyberattacks by strengthening cybersecurity standards, months after a highly publicized data breach earlier this year of a UnitedHealth unit that lacked basic security measures like two-factor authentication.
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September 26, 2024
Religious Nonprofit Can Keep Refugee Aid Contracts For Now
Michigan will abandon its bid for early termination of contracts awarded to a Christian adoption and refugee agency while the organization's lawsuit, alleging the state forced it to hire non-Christians to qualify for contracts, plays out in federal court.
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September 26, 2024
Air Force Urged To Cut Back On Using Chinese Suppliers
Republican lawmakers have asked the U.S. Air Force to cut back on using suppliers from China for "critical weapons platforms," arguing that using Chinese suppliers poses a serious national security risk and empowers China to defeat the U.S. without the need for armed conflict.
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September 26, 2024
VivoPower Keeps HQ In UK To Qualify For $21B Gov't Program
Sustainable energy solutions company VivoPower International PLC and hydrogen technology business Future Automotive Solutions and Technologies on Thursday outlined additional terms to their proposed $1.13 billion merger, including settling the combined company's headquarters in the U.K. in order to qualify for potential "significant and attractive" government incentives.
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September 26, 2024
Behavioral Health Exec Pleads Guilty To Medical Billing Fraud
The chief executive of a behavioral health company on Thursday admitted to directing employees to bill Medicare and Medicaid for extra psychotherapy sessions that never took place.
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September 26, 2024
NJ Atty Rips AG For 'Grossly Distorted' Power Broker Case
A New Jersey attorney charged in the state's sweeping indictment against power broker George E. Norcross III accused the Attorney General's Office on Thursday of "attempting to criminalize the routine practice of law" with its charges against him.
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September 26, 2024
Dallas VA Center Overpaid $3.7M For Wheelchair Services
A Texas veterans medical center will have to recover $3.7 million it overpaid a contractor for wheelchair transportation services between 2022 and 2023, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General said Wednesday.
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September 25, 2024
11th Circ. Reverses DOJ Defeat In $400M Kickback Case
The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday held that a lower court should've admitted prosecutors' evidence of alleged co-conspirators in a $400 million health insurance fraud case, finding that an exclusion to the hearsay rule was misapplied by the district court in the closely watched Anti-Kickback Statute litigation.
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September 25, 2024
Novel Labor Clause Ruling May Beg Scrutiny In Court
A controversial demand from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for prospective contractors to recognize union organizing may stretch the limits of the government's required neutrality in contactors' labor disputes, and a ruling supporting it is likely to attract close scrutiny from courts.
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September 25, 2024
Defense Contractor Hit With $2.25M Fine For Bribery Scheme
A California federal judge issued a $2.25 million fine to a defense company for its role in a bribery scheme through which a former executive bribed an ex-Navy contracting official in exchange for lucrative contracts.
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September 25, 2024
Baltimore Bridge Wreck: 6 Months Later, Claims Mount
A court deadline to challenge liability limits over Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse shows an intense legal battle brewing as the U.S. government, Maryland and private plaintiffs sharpen their claims for damages against the owner and manager of the cargo ship that slammed into the bridge six months ago.
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September 25, 2024
Developer Says Minn. City Made Rule To Block Mosque
A developer and its Muslim founders claimed in federal court that Islamophobia motivated Lino Lakes, Minnesota, and several of its lawmakers to approve a moratorium that blocked the construction of a mixed-use development project that featured a mosque.
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September 25, 2024
US Steel Clears One Hurdle In $14B Nippon Steel Deal
An arbitration board has sided with U.S. Steel amid its union's challenge to a planned $14.9 billion acquisition by Nippon Steel, clearing one hurdle while Nippon continues fighting on another front for approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.
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September 25, 2024
Fed. Claims Court Won't Toss Abandoned Border Fence Suit
The U.S. Court of Federal Claims refused to throw out a suit filed by California property owners who claimed that the federal government owed them compensation after it abandoned a U.S.-Mexico border fence project on the owners' leased properties, leaving behind construction debris and causing environmental damage.
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September 25, 2024
Cargo Airline Strikes $84K Deal To End DOL Equal Pay Probe
A cargo airline has agreed to pay female workers more than $84,000 in back wages and interest to resolve a U.S. Department of Labor investigation alleging it paid them less than their male counterparts, the federal agency announced.
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September 25, 2024
Pittsburgh Council OKs $500K To Settle Bridge Collapse Suits
The city of Pittsburgh approved handing a Pennsylvania state court $500,000 — the city's maximum liability under state law — so it can bow out of lawsuits brought by people injured in the 2022 collapse of the Fern Hollow Bridge.
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September 25, 2024
Watchdog Pans Feds For Sole-Sourcing $5.6M Pavement Deal
The U.S. General Services Administration's internal watchdog faulted the agency for using a preexisting contract to obtain $5.6 million worth of pavement services at border stations along the northern border, saying the work should have been put out for bidding.
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September 24, 2024
Full 9th Circ. Vaporizes First-To-File Precedent For FCA Suits
The full Ninth Circuit on Tuesday overruled circuit precedent and held that the so-called first-to-file rule governing False Claims Act cases is not jurisdictional, meaning that courts can't toss a whistleblower action on jurisdictional grounds rooted in the first-to-file provision.
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September 24, 2024
Helicopter Maker Skirted FAA Requirements, Jury Hears
Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. used a former vendor's trade secrets to skirt the need for regulatory approval, a jury heard in Texas state court Tuesday, allegedly avoiding requirements set by the Federal Aviation Administration as the company pulled the rug out from under its old vendor.
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September 24, 2024
Neurosurgeon Deems Judge Newman's Brain 'Entirely Normal'
A third doctor has found that suspended U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, 97, is not cognitively impaired and that there's no reason to keep her off the bench, according to a report released by her attorneys Tuesday.
Expert Analysis
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Litigation Inspiration: Attys Can Be Heroic Like Olympians
Although litigation won’t earn anyone an Olympic medal in Paris this summer, it can be worthy of the same lasting honor if attorneys exercise focused restraint — seeking both their clients’ interests and those of the court — instead of merely pursuing every advantage short of sanctionable conduct, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Biden Admin Proposals May Facilitate US, UK, Australia Trade
Recent proposals that create exceptions to U.S. export licensing requirements for defense trade with Australia and the U.K. would remove hurdles that have hindered trade among the three countries, and could enable smaller companies in the sector to greatly expand their trade horizons, say Keil Ritterpusch and Grace Welborn at Buchanan Ingersoll.
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Lean Into The 'Great Restoration' To Retain Legal Talent
As the “great resignation,” in which employees voluntarily left their jobs in droves, has largely dissipated, legal employers should now work toward the idea of a “great restoration,” adopting strategies to effectively hire, onboard and retain top legal talent, says Molly McGrath at Hiring & Empowering Solutions.
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9th Circ. Ruling Shows Lies Must Go To Nature Of Bargain
The Ninth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Milheiser decision, vacating six mail fraud convictions, clarifies that the key question in federal fraud cases is not whether lies were told, but what they were told about — thus requiring defense counsel to rethink their strategies, say Charles Kreindler and Krista Landis at Sheppard Mullin.
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Adopting 7 Principles May Improve Voluntary Carbon Markets
The Biden administration's recently issued joint policy statement on improving the integrity of voluntary carbon markets may help companies using carbon credits to offset their emissions withstand scrutiny by government agencies, the public and investors, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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5 Steps For Gov't Contractor Affirmative Action Verification
As the federal contractor affirmative action program certification deadline approaches, government contractors and subcontractors should take steps to determine their program obligations, and ensure any required plans are properly implemented and timely registered, say Christopher Wilkinson at Perkins Coie and Joanna Colosimo at DCI Consulting.
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Series
Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge at Robinson Bradshaw.
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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence
The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.
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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
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National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 2
Strategy documents recently published by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Space Force confirm the importance of the commercial space sector to the DOD, but say little about achieving the institutional changes needed to integrate commercial capabilities in support of national security in space, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.
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National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 1
The recently published U.S. Department of Defense space strategy represents a recalibration in agency thinking, signaling that the integration of commercial space capabilities has become a necessity and offering guidance for removing structural, procedural and cultural barriers to commercial-sector collaboration, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.
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Perspectives
Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys
As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.
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Series
Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.
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Contractors Must Prep For FAR Council GHG Emissions Rule
With the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council expected to finalize its proposed rule on the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risk this year, government contractors should take key steps now to get ready, say Thomas Daley at DLA Piper, Steven Rothstein at the Ceres Accelerator for Sustainable Capital Markets, and John Kostyack at Kostyack Strategies.