The Situation: The False Claims Act ("FCA") imposes treble damages on defendants, as well as mandatory penalties per false claim. Because alleged false claims often involve much smaller amounts—for example, in cases with a...more
On March 18, 2021, retailer Union Square Supply, Inc. filed a civil rights class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York challenging New York City’s price gouging enforcement practices. The complaint alleges that...more
Cities and towns have become increasingly aggressive in their efforts to avoid blight resulting from vacant and foreclosed properties and enforce the state and local sanitary codes. At what point does a valid code violation...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Members of the plaintiffs’ bar submit about 500 PAGA notices each month to California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Each notice presages yet another PAGA lawsuit against yet another hapless...more
As my colleague Andy Frey and I reported in an earlier post, an Illinois federal jury in July returned a $150 million punitive verdict against AbbVie without awarding the plaintiff any compensatory damages. That verdict is...more
Inevitably, when conscientious judges delve into the multi-dimensional issue of excessive punitive damages, they get some things right and other things wrong. Such is the case with the Fourth Circuit’s recent decision in...more
A bankruptcy judge in the Eastern District of California recently issued a decision that is sure to raise appellate eyebrows. Concluding in In re Sundquist that the defendant bank had violated the automatic stay by...more
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in BMW of North America. Inc. v. Gore, the first time the Court had ever held that a punitive damages award was unconstitutionally excessive under the Due...more
The Government Contracts Quarterly Update is published by BakerHostetler’s Government Contracts Practice Group to inform our clients and friends of the latest developments in federal government contracting. In This...more