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Ode to Boilerplate

Client Alert | 1 min read | 05.02.14

In DMS Imaging Inc. v. U.S. (CFC Apr. 30, 2014), a boilerplate severability clause may have saved the contractor's claim for damages after equipment it leased to the government was destroyed. The government argued that the contractor's standard lease terms, expressly incorporated into the contract with the government, were invalid because they included an indemnification clause alleged to violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, but the CFC found the government liable for damages to the equipment under a separate, risk-of-loss clause, which was not invalidated because, even if the indemnification clause were unenforceable, a third boilerplate provision provided that unenforceable or void provisions would be deemed severable. 


Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 09.13.24

SEC Disbands its Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly recently dissolved its Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force (the Task Force). The Task Force was part of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s broader push to increase investors’ access to environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) information about public companies and registered investment companies. The dissolution of the Climate and ESG Enforcement Task Force comes after three years marked by industry resistance and a mixed record in the courts. Prior to the Task Force’s dissolution, the agency removed ESG from its annual Examination Priorities Report, which provides areas of particular focus during SEC examinations. While the Task Force has been dissolved, the SEC is still pursuing a number of its proposed ESG and climate-related rules....