Aerospace & Defense

  • September 03, 2024

    KBR Relator Says 5th Circ. Loss Doesn't Affect Fee Motion

    The estate of a whistleblower rebuffed KBR Inc.'s efforts to use a Fifth Circuit decision invalidating his share of a fraud settlement to avoid covering $826,000 in legal costs, arguing the settlement preserved his rights to a fee award.

  • September 03, 2024

    Judge Axes DoD Engineer's Release In 'Top Secret' Docs Case

    A Virginia federal judge revoked a release order for a U.S. Department of Defense civilian employee accused of taking top secret and other classified documents from his workplace, saying instead that he should remain detained "pending disposition of this case."

  • September 03, 2024

    Judge Skeptical Navy Owes Millions For IP Infringement

    A Federal Circuit judge appeared skeptical Tuesday about a software firm's demand for $85.9 million in damages for the Navy's unauthorized copies of its software, suggesting the company hadn't proven its eligibility for more than the $154,400 it was previously awarded.

  • September 03, 2024

    FCC Bans Kaspersky Software In Authorized Equipment

    The Federal Communications Commission is banning the use of certain Russian-made cybersecurity and antivirus software from Kaspersky Labs in agency-authorized telecommunications equipment, months after the U.S. Department of Commerce said the software could pose national security risks.

  • September 03, 2024

    Ex-Defense Contractor Arrested In $350M Tax Evasion Case

    A former defense contractor who, with his wife, is facing a 30-count indictment alleging they were involved in a decades-long scheme to defraud the U.S. government and avoid taxes on more than $350 million in income was arrested Tuesday.

  • September 03, 2024

    Harris Follows Biden In Opposing $15B US Steel-Nippon Deal

    Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that she would oppose Nippon Steel's $14.9 billion proposed takeover of U.S. Steel if elected president, following President Joe Biden's lead and signaling that she would take a tough stance when it comes to mergers and acquisitions that could jeopardize national security and domestic jobs.

  • September 03, 2024

    Former Aide To NY Gov. Indicted On Foreign Agent Charges

    A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo was arrested Tuesday on allegations of secretly acting as an agent of China's government in a yearslong political conspiracy to promote the interests of the Chinese Communist Party and reap millions of dollars.

  • August 30, 2024

    Vets, Attys Urge Supreme Court To Topple Feres Doctrine

    Veterans groups and lawmakers contend it's "high time" for the U.S. Supreme Court to scrap its 74-year-old doctrine prohibiting military service members and their families from suing the U.S. for negligence, arguing the vague rule has left soldiers with fewer rights than prisoners and noncitizens.

  • August 30, 2024

    CrowdStrike VP Called To House Hearing On Global IT Outage

    A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee will dig into the faulty CrowdStrike software update that caused a massive global tech outage, revealing plans Friday for a September hearing that will feature testimony from a senior executive at the cybersecurity firm. 

  • August 30, 2024

    Army Can Overlook FCA Settlement For $86M Booz Allen Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest over an $86.3 million laboratory support deal, saying the U.S. Army hadn't improperly ignored a high-profile recent False Claims Act settlement when awarding the deal to Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.

  • August 30, 2024

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    Appeals courts have awakened from summertime slumber and crammed their early autumn calendars with arguments of national significance, which Law360 previews in this edition of Wheeling & Appealing. We're also recapping August's top appellate decisions, exploring new polling about U.S. Supreme Court opinions and testing your knowledge of Fifth Circuit history.

  • August 30, 2024

    RTX Corp. To Settle Engineers' No-Poach Class Claims

    RTX Corp. on Friday announced a nascent class action settlement in a lawsuit accusing its Pratt & Whitney division of orchestrating an agreement among five aerospace engineering suppliers not to hire one another's employees, a move that follows a $26.5 million settlement between the employees and the five other firms.

  • August 30, 2024

    Navy Escapes Protest Over Modification To $50B Deal

    A Court of Federal Claims judge has tossed a challenge over the U.S. Navy modifying a $50 billion professional services contract, despite the protester saying the changes gave an unfair advantage to mentor-protégé joint ventures and their members.

  • August 30, 2024

    Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Base Networks, Nuclear Power

    In August, the U.S. Air Force named the 23 companies that will carry out its $12.5 billion network modernization effort, while a domestic nuclear company agreed to help build the first small modular reactor nuclear power plant in Africa. ​​​​These are Law360's most noteworthy government contracts for August 2024.

  • August 30, 2024

    RTX Reaches $200M Deal Over Export Control Violations

    RTX Corp. has reached a $200 million settlement with the U.S. Department of State to resolve violations of export control rules, including sending controlled defense items and data to China, the agency announced Friday.

  • August 29, 2024

    Airline Ducks Liquidated Damages In Military Leave Suit

    A class of pilots accusing American Airlines of violating the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by denying pay for time spent on military leave can't seek liquidated damages, given a lack of evidence that the airline knew it was breaking the law, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • August 29, 2024

    CFPB Fines NewDay $2.25M Over VA Home Loan Practices

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau levied a $2.25 million fine against NewDay Financial LLC on Thursday for allegedly deceiving active-duty service members and veterans seeking cash-out refinance loans on their home mortgages.

  • August 29, 2024

    FCC Rolls Out Rules For Drones' Use Of 5 GHz Band

    The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday announced it had adopted initial rules for the use of drones in the 5 gigahertz band by allowing operators to obtain frequency assignments.

  • August 29, 2024

    GAO Backs VA Cancellation Of Air-Unit Installation Deal

    The U.S. Government Accountability Office is supporting the Department of Veterans Affairs' decision to cancel a solicitation that lacked proper instructions to bidders, thereby denying a protest from a Maryland business that had its contract canceled.

  • August 29, 2024

    Judge Asked To OK Settlement For Halliburton CERCLA Suit

    Halliburton and more than 30 companies seeking to recover costs associated with the cleanup of long-accumulated contamination at a Superfund site have struck a settlement in California federal court in an attempt to bring to a close a decade of litigation.

  • August 29, 2024

    Under-The-Radar Gov't Contracts Cases: Midyear Report

    Alongside blockbuster rulings so far this year shaking up the federal contracting landscape are lower-profile decisions with noteworthy legal outcomes, addressing issues such as when late submissions matter, when they don't, and whether local wage requirements can affect federal contracts. Here are four lower-profile decisions from the first half of 2024 with significant legal findings that could impact federal contractors.

  • August 28, 2024

    ACLU Offers Harris 'Roadmap' To Rein In Gov't Surveillance

    The American Civil Liberties Union is urging the Democratic presidential nominee to stop what the group calls exploitation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by the federal government by ending unwarranted surveillance of Americans if she wins office in November.

  • August 28, 2024

    Co. Pushed Director To Work With Broken Fingers, Suit Says

    A military contractor forced a department head to work with broken fingers and a spinal injury following a serious fall, refused to provide short-term disability leave paperwork and ultimately fired him when he raised concerns, according to a complaint filed in Connecticut federal court.

  • August 28, 2024

    Contractor Drops Fed. Circ. Challenge To Registration Rule

    The federal government and a joint venture on Wednesday agreed to end a Federal Circuit appeal that questioned whether the U.S. State Department unfairly disqualified the company from a security contract over its failure to register on the contracting database.

  • August 28, 2024

    Cooley, Latham Steer Defense Co.'s $80M VC Funding Round

    Parry Labs announced Wednesday that the Virginia-based defense technology company, represented by Cooley LLP, has raised $80 million in its first institutional investment round fueled by Capitol Meridian Partners, represented by Latham & Watkins LLP, and other venture capital firms.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Timely Gov't Contractor Registration Renewal Is Key

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    The U.S. Government Accountability Office's recent decision in TLS Joint Venture makes clear that a lapse in System for Award Management registration, no matter how brief, renders a government contractor ineligible for a negotiated procurement, so submit renewals with plenty of time to spare, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Data Protection Steps To Consider After Biden Privacy Order

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    A recent White House executive order casts a spotlight on the criticality of securing sensitive content communications, presenting challenges and necessitating a recalibration of practices, especially for lawyers, says Camilo Artiga-Purcell at Kiteworks.

  • Inside OMB's Update On Race And Ethnicity Data Collection

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    The Office of Management and Budget's new guidelines for agency collection of data on race and ethnicity reflect societal changes and the concerns of certain demographics, but implementation may be significantly burdensome for agencies and employers, say Joanna Colosimo and Bill Osterndorf at DCI Consulting.

  • Series

    Whitewater Kayaking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Whether it's seeing clients and their issues from a new perspective, or staying nimble in a moment of intense challenge, the lessons learned from whitewater kayaking transcend the rapids of a river and prepare attorneys for the courtroom and beyond, says Matthew Kent at Alston & Bird.

  • GSA's Carbon-Free Power Plan: Tips For Electricity Suppliers

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    The U.S. General Services Administration's recent request for information concerning its intent to acquire a large amount of carbon pollution-free electricity over the next decade in the PJM Interconnection region offers key insights for companies interested in becoming electric power suppliers to federal government agencies, say Shaunna Bailey and Nicholas Dugdale at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Contract Disputes Recap: Interpretation And Jurisdiction

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    Edward Arnold and Sarah Barney at Seyfarth examine three decisions by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that show the importance of knowing who your contracting partner is, addressing patent ambiguities in a solicitation prior to award and keeping basic contract principles in mind when evaluating performance obligations.

  • This Earth Day, Consider How Your Firm Can Go Greener

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    As Earth Day approaches, law firms and attorneys should consider adopting more sustainable practices to reduce their carbon footprint — from minimizing single-use plastics to purchasing carbon offsets for air travel — which ultimately can also reduce costs for clients, say M’Lynn Phillips and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • New Proposal Signals Sharper Enforcement Focus At CFIUS

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    Last week's proposed rule aimed at broadening the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' enforcement authority over foreign investments and increasing penalties for violations signals that CFIUS intends to continue expanding its aggressive monitoring of national security issues, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • Analyzing New EU Measure To Prevent Reexports To Russia

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    Niels Ersbøll, Alexander Italianer and Laura Beuls at Arnold & Porter offer a comprehensive overview of the European Union's new rule requiring export agreements to contain a clause prohibiting the reexport of goods to Russia, and discuss what companies should do to ensure compliance.

  • Exploring Patent Trends In Aerospace Electrification

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    As blue-chip companies lead the charge to power large-scale commercial airplanes with electricity, and startups advance the trend on a regional scale, patent applications directed at improving energy storage and electric motor efficiency are on the rise, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • What Minority Biz Law Ruling Could Mean For Private DEI

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    A Texas federal court’s recent decision to strike down key provisions of the Minority Business Development Act illustrates the wide-reaching effects of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard decision across legal contexts, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Practicing Law With Parkinson's Disease

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    This Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Adam Siegler at Greenberg Traurig discusses his experience working as a lawyer with Parkinson’s disease, sharing both lessons on how to cope with a diagnosis and advice for supporting colleagues who live with the disease.

  • When Trade Secret Protection And Nat'l Security Converge

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    The Trump administration's anti-espionage program focused on China is over, but federal enforcement efforts to protect trade secrets and U.S. national security continue, and companies doing business in high-risk jurisdictions need to maintain their compliance programs to avoid the risk of being caught in the crosshairs of an investigation, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Cos. Should Prepare For Foreign Data Transfer Regulations

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    A new regulatory regime designed to protect U.S. sensitive data from countries of concern may complicate an already intricate geopolitical landscape and affect even companies beyond the data industry, but with careful preparation, such companies can endeavor to minimize the effect on their business operations and ensure compliance, say David Plotinsky and Jiazhen Guo at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Playing Hockey Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Nearly a lifetime of playing hockey taught me the importance of avoiding burnout in all aspects of life, and the game ultimately ended up providing me with the balance I needed to maintain success in my legal career, says John Riccione at Taft.

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