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Government Contracts
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July 30, 2024
Army Bug Repellent Case Heads To Mediation
A qui tam case in which the government alleges a North Carolina maker of bug-repellent clothing skimped on the amount of insect control chemicals it applied to combat uniforms will go to mediation, with a former federal magistrate judge serving as mediator, according to an order issued Tuesday.
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July 30, 2024
Exxon Loses Bid For Avangrid Docs In Mass. Climate Suit
ExxonMobil will not gain access to potentially millions of documents from wind energy company Avangrid as part of the Massachusetts attorney general's long-running climate change suit, after a state court judge found it "inconceivable" that the sought-after material could be relevant to the case.
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July 30, 2024
GAO Denies Protest Over Invasive Species Control Contract
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a Washington state-based veteran-owned business's challenge of a herbicide order awarded to a rival vendor and its claim that the U.S. Department of the Interior should have sought a quote from it first.
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July 30, 2024
DOD Contractors Must Face Suit Over 'Made In U.S.A.' Label
A pair of whistleblowers who claim that tourniquets and other medical equipment sold to the U.S. Department of Defense was mislabeled as "made in U.S.A." can continue with most of their False Claims Act suit against two contractors, a Pennsylvania federal judge said.
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July 30, 2024
Ga. Gov Fights Dems Bid To Block Fundraising Law
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp urged a Georgia federal judge to deny a bid by the state's Democratic Party to temporarily block a 2021 law that created fundraising organs for a select few state elected officials, allowing them to raise unlimited cash and skirt a ban on lawmakers fundraising.
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July 30, 2024
Quinn Emanuel Must Prove Authority In $486M Award Fight
A divided D.C. Circuit panel ruled Tuesday that a lower court should have determined whether Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP had authority to represent Doraleh Container Terminal SA before deciding whether to enforce a $486 million arbitral award issued against Djibouti.
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July 30, 2024
Virginia Appeals Court Tosses Record $2B Trade Secrets Verdict
The Court of Appeals of Virginia on Tuesday reversed Appian Corp.'s $2 billion trade secrets judgment against competitor Pegasystems Inc., saying that the trial court made a series of errors on its way to the biggest jury award in state history and that a new trial was warranted.
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July 29, 2024
11th Circ. Affirms Ga. Prison Officer Immunity For Strip Search
An Eleventh Circuit panel said that Georgia prison officers violated a woman's constitutional rights when they subjected her to a strip search and manual body cavity search during a visit to see her incarcerated husband, but precedent blocks it from overturning a ruling holding the officers were entitled to qualified immunity.
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July 29, 2024
Feds Say Tenn., NC Hospitals Overpaid Doctors For Referrals
A Tennessee-based hospital system violated the False Claims Act by taking $27.8 million in public healthcare allotments while overpaying doctors, sometimes by three times the average physician's pay, to make internal referrals, according to a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice has joined.
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July 29, 2024
County's Pipeline Sinkhole Suit Too Late, Contractor Says
A construction company says a Washington state court should toss a breach of contract suit linked to a public sewer pipeline project that allegedly triggered sinkholes along a Seattle canal, saying the claims brought by a Washington county are barred by the state's six-year statute of repose for construction.
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July 29, 2024
Judge Blocks Medical Records Co.'s Anti-Bot Captchas
A Maryland federal judge on Monday enjoined electronic medical records company PointClickCare from blocking nursing home analytics company Real Time Medical Systems from accessing patient data with automated bots, saying PCC's firewall wasn't justified by concerns over security or system speed.
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July 29, 2024
USPS Backs Oshkosh's Sealing Bid In New Vehicle Plan Case
The U.S. Postal Service on Friday backed Oshkosh Defense's request to seal their confidential supplier contract terms in litigation challenging the agency's decision to replace its aging delivery fleet with only 62% electric vehicles, arguing rivals could use the information to undercut the USPS when negotiating their own supplier contracts.
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July 29, 2024
GAO Nixes Claims That Biz Lost $6.9M Deal Due To Gov't Error
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has rejected a contractor's claims that the U.S. Department of the Interior misattributed the contractor's bid for a $6.9 million janitorial contract to an ineligible affiliate, saying the submission identified the contractor as the bidder only once.
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July 29, 2024
Watchdog Says Zoom Call Doesn't Warrant Nixing $25.3M Deal
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has refused to undo a $25.3 million contract to support the National Institutes of Health, unconvinced that the agency had revealed a bidder's proprietary information during a Zoom call with the eventual contract winner.
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July 29, 2024
Boehringer Appeals HHS Win In Medicare Drug Price Suit
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. notified a Connecticut federal court Friday that it will appeal its loss in a lawsuit challenging a new Medicare drug price negotiation program on the grounds that it unlawfully compels the pharmaceutical giant to declare prices "fair," takes its property and imposes an excessive fine.
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July 26, 2024
Apple Commits To White House Guidelines For Responsible AI
Apple Inc. has signed onto the Biden administration's voluntary guidelines for "responsible" artificial intelligence innovation, joining the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Google LLC, Microsoft Corp. and a dozen other leading tech companies, the White House announced Friday.
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July 26, 2024
Smartmatic Asks Court To Order Fox Exec To Answer Subpoena
A new front in the war between Smartmatic and Fox News has opened up in Florida, as the voting technology company is asking a Miami court to force a Fox News board member to respond to a subpoena issued in its $2.7 billion defamation suit in New York.
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July 26, 2024
GAO Says Peraton Premature On Unfair GSA Probe Claims
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has tossed Peraton Inc.'s protest alleging the General Services Administration acted unfairly during corrective action on a task order for Army intelligence services, saying the dispute was premature.
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July 26, 2024
RTX Earmarks $1.2B For Anticipated Deals With DOJ, SEC
RTX Corp., formerly known as Raytheon, said it has set aside more than $1.2 billion for anticipated deferred prosecution agreements and other deals with U.S. regulators stemming from investigations that include allegations of improper payments tied to contracts in the Middle East.
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July 26, 2024
9th Circ. Says Online Posts Can Count As Work Harassment
The Ninth Circuit breathed new life into a psychologist's suit alleging the Federal Bureau of Prisons failed to stop a correctional officer from creating sexist and threatening social media posts about her, ruling a lower court erroneously determined the online content didn't amount to workplace harassment.
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July 25, 2024
Boeing's 737 Max Plea Deal: Monitorship, Gov't Contracts
Boeing will be branded with a felony criminal conviction after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud U.S. regulators over the 737 Max 8's development, an ignominious distinction with fresh complications for the embattled American aerospace titan as it overhauls its corporate culture under a compliance monitorship.
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July 25, 2024
IT Firm Says $1.5M Commerce Award Redo Not Routine
An IT consulting firm challenging a U.S. Department of Commerce corrective action on a $1.5 billion information technology deal made during ongoing bid protests told the Federal Circuit that the agency is undercutting its own position by claiming that such moves are routine.
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July 25, 2024
11th Circ. Revives FCA Dispute Over Small Biz Contracts
The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday revived a whistleblower False Claims Act case alleging new owners of a construction firm fraudulently secured orders under a program for disadvantaged small businesses, saying those owners should have told the Small Business Administration about the ownership switch.
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July 25, 2024
Watchdog Says $30.2M IT Contract Holder Didn't Overedit Bid
The U.S. Government Accountability Office upheld the U.S. Space Force's $30.2 million IT deal, rejecting claims that the eventual award-holder had revised too much of its bid after being allowed to alter parts of its proposal.
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July 25, 2024
4th Man Gets Jail In NYC Public Housing Anti-Bribery Sweep
A Manhattan federal judge on Thursday sentenced a former New York City public housing superintendent to 19 months in prison for accepting $95,000 in bribes, bringing to four the number of people sentenced to time behind bars in the 70-defendant anti-corruption sweep.
Expert Analysis
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How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers
Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
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Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
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What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron
With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.
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Don't Use The Same Template For Every Client Alert
As the old marketing adage goes, consistency is key, but law firm style guides need consistency that contemplates variety when it comes to client alert formats, allowing attorneys to tailor alerts to best fit the audience and subject matter, says Jessica Kaplan at Legally Penned.
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Series
Walking With My Dog Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Thanks to my dog Birdie, I've learned that carving out an activity different from the practice of law — like daily outdoor walks that allow you to interact with new people — can contribute to professional success by boosting creativity and mental acuity, as well as expanding your social network, says Sarah Petrie at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Follow The Iron Rule Of Trial Logic
Many diligent and eager attorneys include every good fact, point and rule in their trial narratives — spurred by the gnawing fear they’ll be second-guessed for leaving something out — but this approach ignores a fundamental principle of successful trial lawyering, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Unpacking The Interim Vet-Owned Small Biz Verification Rule
Government contractors that intend to bid for service-disabled veteran-owned small business set-aside contracts should immediately consider the potential impacts of a recently issued rule that specifies how contracting officers will verify that they have certified their status, say Derek Mullins and Beth Gotthelf at Butzel.
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The Art Of Asking: Leveraging Your Contacts For Referrals
Though attorneys may hesitate to ask for referral recommendations to generate new business, research shows that people want to help others they know, like and trust, so consider who in your network you should approach and how to make the ask, says Rebecca Hnatowski at Edwards Advisory.
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McKesson May Change How AKS-Based FCA Claims Are Pled
The Second Circuit’s analysis in U.S. v. McKesson, an Anti-Kickback Statute-based False Claims Act case, provides guidance for both relators and defendants parsing scienter-related allegations, say Li Yu at Dicello Levitt, Ellen London at London & Stout, and Erica Hitchings at Whistleblower Law.
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Series
Being An Equestrian Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Beyond getting experience thinking on my feet and tackling stressful situations, the skills I've gained from horseback riding have considerable overlap with the skills used to practice law, particularly in terms of team building, continuing education, and making an effort to reset and recharge, says Kerry Irwin at Moore & Van Allen.
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Opinion
Cyber Regulators Should Rely On Existing Sources Cautiously
New incident reporting rules proposed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency illustrate how the use of definitions, standards and approaches from existing sources can create a complex patchwork of regulations, demonstrating that it is essential for agencies to be clear about expectations and not create unnecessary confusion, says Megan Brown at Wiley.
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DOE Funding And Cargo Preference Compliance: Key Points
Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the U.S. Department of Energy will disburse more than $62 billion in financing for innovative energy projects — and recipients must understand their legal obligations related to cargo preference, so they can develop compliance strategies as close to project inception as possible, say attorneys at White & Case.
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4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy
With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.
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Tips For Balanced Board Oversight After A Cyberincident
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cybersecurity disclosure rules, as well as recent regulatory enforcement actions bringing board governance under scrutiny, continue to push boards toward active engagement in relation to their cyber-oversight role, despite it being unclear what a board's level of involvement should be, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.