Recently there have been some interesting developments in environmental and regulatory law, including litigation, administrative and regulatory actions, and legislation. I’ve provided you with a little lite reading to ease into your week: Litigation The Supreme Court will review a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision, in NLRB…
In Supreme Court Validates “Implied Certification” Liability Under False Claims Act, we and our colleague Danielle Vrabie discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 16, 2016 decision in Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, No. 15-7. The government contractor and health care communities had hoped the Court would use…
In Texas Extends ‘Accommodation Doctrine’ To Groundwater, I provide a broader analysis of the issue presented in my earlier blog When Contract is Silent, Accommodation Doctrine Applies to Water Rights Disputes. Pillsbury summer associate Brittney Sandler made significant contributions to this article. Sandler is currently enrolled at Georgetown University Law Center where…
On June 20, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California held, in Center for Environmental Health, et. al. v. Vilsack, that a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidance document, intended to provide guidance with respect to the Organic Foods Act, was a legislative rule, not merely an…
Pillsbury attorney Julia Judish provided commentary on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro that vacated a Ninth Circuit ruling after holding that Department of Labor Fair Labor Standards Act regulations were not entitled to deference because they were issued without adequate explanation. In Attys React To High…
In Supreme Court: the VA Must Apply the “Rule of Two” in all Contracting Decisions, Pillsbury attorneys David Dixon and Dick Oliver discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 16 unanimous ruling that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) must give preference to veteran-owned small businesses for all VA procurements…
Chevron deference was an important factor in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s 180-page ruling, in United States Telecom Assoc. v. FCC, et al., on June 14 (Flag Day), upholding the Federal Communications Commission’s “Open Internet” rule. The Court of Appeals’ notes that “[f]or the third time in seven years, we confront an…
In EPA Doubles Down with Expansive New Methane Regulation, Pillsbury attorneys Sheila McCafferty Harvey, David Lewis, Amanda Halter, Matthew Morrison, and Brendan Hennessey discuss President Obama’s administration’s two recent, major steps in implementing its comprehensive climate change strategy. The Administration has set the first-ever methane emissions standards for new, reconstructed and modified sources and simultaneously begun a process to…
There are three types of bonds that afford financial protection in connection with a construction project: payment bonds, performance bonds, and bid bonds. Below is a primer on the differences between these bonds and who is protected by them. Construction Bonds Construction bonds may be required by contract or by statute.…
In FedRAMP Accelerates the Process for Federal Contractors to Obtain Cloud Service Provider Authorizations and DoD Revises its Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide for FedRAMP+, my colleague Selena Brady and I discuss cloud computing requirements for contractors in the federal market place. For those providing cloud services, it is a time of…