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New York State Debarment Risk Update

Client Alert | 1 min read | 04.05.19

Highlighting the renewed focus on debarment in state and local contracting, the state of New York recently reminded purchasing agencies of their obligations to debar non-responsible contractors and to confirm that intended awardees are otherwise eligible before awarding contracts. Executive Order (EO) 192, issued by Governor Cuomo, directs purchasing entities to consider vendor responsibility by evaluating, among other factors, financial and organizational capacity, integrity, and past performance. If buying agencies become concerned about a contractor’s responsibility, the EO instructs agencies to conduct an investigation and make a responsibility determination. Agencies are required to list nonresponsible vendors on the Office of General Services’ website. No state agency may purchase from a vendor on that list, absent a waiver, or agency leadership risks “breaching their duty as a public officer . . . ” suggesting that contract rescissions may follow, among other consequences.

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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....