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Government Contracts
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September 30, 2024
Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action
The year's spookiest month is looking scary-good for appellate aficionados, as famed oral advocates joust in October over net neutrality and Uber's extraordinary bid to unravel multidistrict litigation — just two of the high-profile arguments previewed in this edition of Wheeling & Appealing. October also begins with former President Jimmy Carter turning 100, and we'll test your knowledge of his profound impact on the judiciary.
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September 30, 2024
Plane Parts Exec Loses Appeal In Honeywell Fraud Case
The Second Circuit refused Monday to free the president of an airplane parts supplier from a seven-year prison sentence over a $15 million fraud on Honeywell International Inc., rejecting his protest over evidence admitted for consciousness of guilt.
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September 30, 2024
DC Judge Won't Allow Single Trial In Admiral's Bribery Case
A D.C. federal judge Monday denied the government's motion to reconsider a decision severing a retired Navy admiral's bribery trial from that of the defense contractors he is accused of steering federal contracts toward, reiterating a previous ruling that the court can split the case if consolidation appears to prejudice the parties.
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September 30, 2024
DOE Plutonium Pit Plan Found To Violate Environmental Law
A South Carolina federal judge on Monday backed antinuclear groups' challenge to a U.S. Department of Energy plan to boost production of plutonium cores used in nuclear weapons, saying the DOE hadn't properly considered the potential environmental impact of the plan.
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September 30, 2024
Feds Seek Prison In Tax Case Linked To 'China Initiative'
Prosecutors have asked a Texas federal judge for an 18- to 24-month prison sentence for a Chinese-born engineer who pled guilty to tax crimes after being charged with export violations and fraud in a case the defense claims began as an espionage investigation under the U.S. Department of Justice's now-disbanded "China Initiative."
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September 30, 2024
$143M Seattle Tunnel Insurance Suit Settles Midtrial
A Seattle construction contractor that claimed it was wrongly denied more than $143 million in coverage for damage to a massive tunneling machine has settled its case against insurers, the parties told a Washington state judge Monday on the second day of a jury trial.
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September 30, 2024
Red States Urge Justices To Take Up $15 Min. Wage Dispute
Conservative-led states told the U.S. Supreme Court that President Joe Biden's administration misused the Procurement Act when it hiked federal contractors' hourly minimum wage to $15, throwing their support behind two outdoor groups hoping to overturn a Tenth Circuit ruling in favor of the federal government.
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September 30, 2024
Climate Analytics Co. Seeks Ch. 11 With Up To $50M In Debt
BAWT Enterprises LLC, the New Hampshire-based parent company of climate data analytics firm Athenium Analytics, filed for Chapter 11 protection in Delaware in hopes of quickly confirming its prepackaged plan to hand ownership of the reorganized company to its creditors.
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September 27, 2024
New Orleans Inspector Indicted For Bribing Top City Official
A New Orleans resident and his home inspection company were indicted in Louisiana federal court Friday on charges that he operated a yearslong scheme of taking bribes to let unlicensed electricians work on hundreds of homes and bribing top city officials to look the other way.
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September 27, 2024
Kappos' Bayh-Dole Warning To Clients Draws Debate
An advocate for lowering drug prices squared off Friday against a former U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director about the potential risk of accepting government funds to develop drugs, as part of a discussion at New York University School of Law.
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September 27, 2024
Acadia To Pay $19.9M For Alleged Inpatient Billing Scheme
Acadia Healthcare will pay $19.85 million to settle allegations it billed false claims to the federal government for medically unnecessary behavioral health services provided to patients who weren't even eligible for treatment, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
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September 27, 2024
Fed. Circ. Urged To Block Gov't Bid To Rehear AI Deal Dispute
An artificial intelligence company has asked the Federal Circuit not to revisit a high-profile decision reviving the firm's protest over its exclusion from a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency procurement, saying the original ruling fit within the circuit court's precedent.
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September 27, 2024
Sen. Says Contractors Trying To Block DOD 'Right-To-Repair'
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has chided defense contractors for seeking to "sabotage" efforts to require them to cough up parts and data allowing the U.S. Department of Defense to repair its own equipment, while urging the DOD to take action on related restrictions.
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September 27, 2024
Why Many Drugs Remain Pricey 40 Years After Hatch-Waxman
In the four decades since Congress passed the Hatch-Waxman Act in an effort to make generic drugs more available, the pharmaceutical industry has used patent thickets, "evergreening" and pay-for-delay tactics to block competition and keep prices of life-saving specialty drugs astronomical, several legal experts told Law360, while the industry argues other parties shoulder more of the blame.
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September 27, 2024
GAO Says DOE Could Save Billions On Hanford Waste Plan
A government watchdog said in a report Friday that the U.S. Department of Energy should heed experts who say the agency could save billions of dollars by distinguishing between high- and lower-level waste at the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington, one of the biggest cleanups in the world.
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September 27, 2024
Fed. Circ. Won't Revive $5.9M CMS Contingency Fee Suit
The Federal Circuit on Friday refused to revive a contractor's $5.9 million dispute over a Medicare recovery audit task order, saying the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reasonably terminated the deal and didn't owe the company any more money.
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September 27, 2024
Ex-Conn. Police Chief Drops Atty Fee Ask After Lawsuit Win
The former police chief in Newington, Connecticut, dropped his demand for attorney fees after defamation claims against him were dropped and a state court judge ordered that, in order to collect, his lawyer may have to testify at an upcoming hearing.
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September 27, 2024
GAO Backs DOD Rebuke To Bidder's Spreadsheet Mistake
The U.S. Government Accountability Office backed the Pentagon's decision to deny a spot on a $4 billion deal for combating weapons of mass destruction to a contractor that submitted an incorrect spreadsheet, saying the Pentagon wasn't required to fix the mistake.
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September 27, 2024
Disbarred Ex-DA Must Face Rival's Malicious Prosecution Suit
A Colorado federal judge on Thursday declined to throw out a malicious prosecution claim by a former elected district attorney alleging his disbarred successor falsely charged him with felony embezzlement, concluding that the disbarred prosecutor is not entitled to absolute or qualified immunity.
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September 27, 2024
Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Warships And Lunar Relays
In September, the U.S. Navy shored up its fleet, issuing a combined $16.35 billion order for amphibious warships and oilers, while NASA struck a new $4.8 billion lunar communications deal. Here are Law360's most noteworthy government contracts for September.
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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.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.
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Big Business May Come To Rue The Post-Administrative State
Many have framed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decisions overturning Chevron deference and extending the window to challenge regulations as big wins for big business, but sand in the gears of agency rulemaking may be a double-edged sword, creating prolonged uncertainty that impedes businesses’ ability to plan for the future, says Todd Baker at Columbia University.
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A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates
Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.
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Criminal Enforcement Considerations For Gov't Contractors
Government contractors increasingly exposed to criminal liability risks should establish programs that enable detection and remediation of employee misconduct, consider voluntary disclosure, and be aware of the potentially disastrous consequences of failing to make a mandatory disclosure where the government concludes it was required, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
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Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
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Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Series
After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation
The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.
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Electrifying Transportation With Public-Private Partnerships
Many clean energy goals remain public policy abstractions that face a challenging road to realization — but public-private partnership models could be a valuable tool to electrify the transportation sector, says Michael Blackwell at Husch Blackwell.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects
Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Series
Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.
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Fed. Circ. Percipient Gov't Contract Ruling Is Groundbreaking
The effects of the Federal Circuit's decision last month in Percipient.ai v. U.S. may be limited to commercial product and service suppliers, but it is significant for government procurement in opening the door to protests by suppliers who previously would have lacked standing and Court of Federal Claims jurisdiction, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.