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Fourth Circuit Accepts "Implied Certification" Theory When Contractual Requirement Is Unambiguous and Material

Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.12.15

On January 8, 2015, the Fourth Circuit, in U.S. ex rel. Badr v. Triple Canopy, Inc., reversed the district court's dismissal of allegations that the contractor had submitted false claims by invoicing for security guards who had failed to pass the marksmanship proficiency test even though the contractor never affirmatively certified to the guard's shooting proficiency or presented to the government the false test cards allegedly created to hide the deficiency. The Court noted that the implied certification theory was "prone to abuse" and that it had previously "guarded against turning what is essentially a breach of contract into an FCA violation," but concluded the best manner for drawing the line was by "strict enforcement of the Act's materiality and scienter requirements" and, here, the marksmanship requirement was an objective criterion and its materiality demonstrated by the contractor's alleged falsification of the scoring cards which were required to be maintained under the contract.


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Client Alert | 7 min read | 09.26.24

Banks and Financial Service Providers Take Note: EU Law on Greenwashing and Social-Washing Is Changing – And It Is Likely Going to Have a Wide Impact

The amount of litigation regarding environmental and climate change issues is, perhaps unsurprisingly, growing worldwide.[1] A significant portion of that litigation relates to so-called ‘greenwashing’, ‘climate-washing’ or ‘social-washing’ disputes. In other words, legal cases where people or organisations (often NGOs and consumer groups) accuse companies, banks, financial institutions or others, of making untrue statements. They argue these companies or financial institutions are pretending their products, services or operations are more environmentally-friendly, sustainable, or ethically ‘good’ for society – than is really the case. Perhaps more interestingly, of all the litigation in the environmental and climate change space – complainants bringing greenwashing and social washing cases have, according to some of these reports, statistically the most chance of winning. So, in a nutshell, not only is greenwashing and social washing litigation on the rise, companies and financial institutions are most likely to lose cases in this area....

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