The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 6, 2024, that the Indian Health Service (IHS) must pay contract support costs with respect to program income – payments from Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers – received by tribes...more
The "inevitable disclosure" doctrine permits the plaintiff in a trade secrets case to establish threatened misappropriation by showing that the defendant's new employment will inevitably lead the defendant to rely on the...more
1/27/2023
/ Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Employment Contract ,
Former Employee ,
Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Litigation ,
Legislative History ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Remedies ,
Trade Secrets
A recurring issue in New York mortgage lending is under what circumstances the state's six-year statute of limitations on mortgage debts is extended or revived. The New York Court of Appeals ruled recently that this issue is...more
Two recent decisions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit shed light on several recurrent issues that arise in trade secret litigation under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and related state acts....more
5/20/2022
/ Appeals ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Defense Strategies ,
Evidence ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
IP Litigation ,
Misappropriation ,
Payment Bonds ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reverse Engineering ,
Trade Secrets
When businesses share their trade secrets or confidential information with employees or third parties (a franchisee, a joint venture partner, a potential buyer, etc.), they rely on trade secret law and on non-disclosure...more
President Joe Biden on July 9, 2021, issued a wide-ranging Executive Order intended to promote competition in the American economy. Among other things, it encourages the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban or limit...more
Last week, the DOJ Criminal Division published a guidance document entitled "Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs" (ECCP). This document is meant to assist prosecutors in determining what credit should be given to a...more
5/7/2019
/ Acquisitions ,
Best Practices ,
Chief Compliance Officers ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corporate Officers ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Mergers ,
New Guidance ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Assessment ,
Senior Managers
A previous post on this blog (Nov. 21, 2018) analyzed state laws that require a plaintiff suing for trade secret misappropriation to identify its alleged trade secret(s) with particularity, before discovery begins. As...more
The owner of a trade secret must take reasonable measures to keep the information secret in order to claim protection under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) or state trade secrets acts. Yet, in order to conduct...more
A trade secret misappropriation claim can arise from the same facts as, and be joined with, a claim for breach of contract by the defendant, such as a breach of a covenant not to compete or breach of a non-disclosure...more
11/12/2018
/ Breach of Contract ,
Consequential Damages ,
Contract Disputes ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Economic Loss Doctrine ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Non-Disclosure Agreement ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
State Law Claims ,
Trade Secrets
It's an old aphorism that "you can't fight City Hall." Now it's time to add a related aphorism: "you can't sue the government under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) for disclosing your trade secrets" – at least so...more
10/18/2018
/ Bids ,
Competition ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Disclosure ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Entities ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Lack of Jurisdiction ,
Misappropriation ,
Private Right of Action ,
Public Records ,
State and Local Government ,
Trade Secrets
• A decision by the Court of Federal Claims has important implications for breach of trust claims involving tribal trust funds.
• Most claims for mismanagement of tribal trust resources are limited to the six-year period...more
Is the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) going to dismiss more meritless qui tam actions brought under the False Claims Act (FCA)? At a conference on Oct. 30, 2017, Michael Granston, the Director of DOJ's Civil Fraud Section,...more
Court: Bureau of Indian Affairs Failed to Act in Timely Manner on Tribal Funding Proposal -
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on April 4, 2017, ruled that the Navajo Nation is entitled to...more
4/7/2017
/ Anti-Deficiency Act ,
Appeals ,
Bureau of Indian Affairs ,
Equitable Estoppel ,
Federal Funding ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Government Shutdown ,
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (ISDEAA) ,
Judicial System ,
Native American Issues ,
Navajo Nation ,
State Sovereignty
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Fraud Section recently published its "Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs" that lists 1) the topics it explores and 2) the questions it asks when it assesses the effectiveness of a...more
3/20/2017
/ Compliance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Corruption ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Fraud ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Risk Assessment ,
Third-Party Relationships ,
White Collar Crimes
Indian country may be close to another victory against state and local taxes. On Feb. 8, 2016, a California district court issued an order that signals it is likely to invalidate Riverside County's imposition of a possessory...more
In a much-awaited decision on Friday, January 30, the D.C. Circuit upheld the Federal Trade Commission’s decision that pomegranate juice maker POM Wonderful LLC engaged in false or misleading advertising by claiming its...more
The federal False Claims Act (FCA) is one of the government’s primary weapons in combating fraud by federal contractors, federal grantees and recipients of federal benefits. Since 1986, when the FCA was restructured into its...more
On October 29, 2013, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved a bill to restructure suspension and debarment from federal procurement and non-procurement programs. The Stop Unworthy Spending (SUSPEND) Act...more
A recent decision by the D.C. Circuit underscores the large amount of discretion that federal agencies have in determining the length of a debarment or exclusion imposed on a government contractor or program participant....more
Last year Congress and the Office of Management and Budget pushed federal agencies to become more aggressive about suspending and debarring contractors. In October of 2011, a Government Accountability Office report found that...more
Ethical behaviors and legal compliance within any educational institution cannot be presumed; they must be cultivated, monitored and enforced. It is a team effort. It begins with senior leadership, including an informed and...more
A recent federal court decision highlights two important issues relating to excluding contractors from participation in federal government contracting: (1) suspension, and (2) "affiliation."...more