Background - News & Events (Landing) 2016

Search NewsRoom

Advanced Search >

All Alerts & Newsletters

One Employee's Fraud Bars Company's Monetary Claim

July 19, 2016

In Laguna Constr. Co. v. Carter (July 15), the Federal Circuit denied Laguna’s claim seeking $2.9 million in unpaid invoices because an employee pled guilty to accepting subcontract kickbacks in Iraq – fraudulent conduct that the court imputed to the company and ruled was a breach of the “Allowable Cost and Payment” clause. The court ruled that the ASBCA had jurisdiction to rule on the government’s affirmative defense of “prior material breach” that was based on a fraud conviction, that this affirmative defense does not require a separate CO final decision per Maropakis, and that the contractor’s fraud-based breach excused the government’s subsequent breach (failure to pay for the completed and invoiced work) – a reminder to contractors of the importance of ethics training and monitoring.

For more information, please contact the professional(s) listed below, or your regular Crowell & Moring contact.

J. Chris Haile
Partner – Washington, D.C.
Phone: +1.202.624.2898
Email: chaile@crowell.com
Stephen J. McBrady
Partner – Washington, D.C.
Phone: +1.202.624.2547
Email: smcbrady@crowell.com
Brian Tully McLaughlin
Partner – Washington, D.C.
Phone: +1.202.624.2628
Email: bmclaughlin@crowell.com
Skye Mathieson
Partner – Washington, D.C.
Phone: +1.202.624.2606
Email: smathieson@crowell.com