DOD Required to Reimburse Pension Cost Deficit
Client Alert | 1 min read | 07.18.12
In Raytheon Co. v. U.S. (July 16, 2012), the Court of Federal Claims awarded Raytheon $59.2 million for the "segment closing adjustment" required by CAS 413 to cover unreimbursed pension costs in two business units sold by Raytheon in 2001 and 2002, finding on virtually every contested issue that the calculation of Raytheon's expert actuarial witness was reasonable and that the government's expert had not carried the burden of proving that the Raytheon calculations were noncompliant with CAS. In addition, effectively reversing a prior decision in Raytheon Co. v. U.S., 96 Fed. Cl. 548 (2011), and addressing an issue that will have potentially broader implications beyond CAS 413 segment closing cases, the court found that Raytheon's agreement to the standard form novation language under which the seller "waives" all claims against the Government on novated contracts did not result in a waiver of the CAS 413 segment closing claim on several grounds.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
