Government Liable for $99 Million in Indemnification Under Government Contracts
Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.26.17
In Shell Oil Co. et al. v. U.S. (Jan. 6, 2017), the Court of Federal Claims held that the U.S. Government was liable for over $99 million in breach of contract damages when it “reneged on contractual promises” to indemnify several oil companies under a Taxes Clause for certain costs incurred as a result of environmental damage arising out of WWII-era contracts for the production of military aviation gas (see previous discussion here and here). The decision, which may encourage other contractors to pursue recovery under similar contract provisions such as “hold harmless” clauses in facilities contracts, and indemnification clauses authorized under Public Law 85-804, admonished the Government that the damages included “$30,991,111.02 in interest which the U.S. taxpayers could have avoided paying, if the Government had lived up to its obligations, instead of wasting years in litigation.”
Insights
Client Alert | 8 min read | 06.30.25
AI Companies Prevail in Path-Breaking Decisions on Fair Use
Last week, artificial intelligence companies won two significant copyright infringement lawsuits brought by copyright holders, marking an important milestone in the development of the law around AI. These decisions – Bartz v. Anthropic and Kadrey v. Meta (decided on June 23 and 25, 2025, respectively), along with a February 2025 decision in Thomson Reuters v. ROSS Intelligence – suggest that AI companies have plausible defenses to the intellectual property claims that have dogged them since generative AI technologies became widely available several years ago. Whether AI companies can, in all cases, successfully assert that their use of copyrighted content is “fair” will depend on their circumstances and further development of the law by the courts and Congress.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.30.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.26.25
FDA Targets Gene Editing Clinical Trials in China and other “Hostile Countries”
Client Alert | 3 min read | 06.26.25