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Sixth Circuit Rejects DOJ's "Fairyland" Damages Calculation and Awards Actual Damages Based on Benefit of the Bargain

Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.12.16

In U.S. ex rel. Wall v. Circle C Constr., LLC, (Feb. 4, 2016), the Sixth Circuit rejected the government's "creative" accounting in an FCA case based on violations of the Davis-Bacon Act, vacating a treble damages award of $763,000 where the defendant's subcontractor underpaid its employees for electrical work at numerous Army warehouses by a total of $9,900, and remanding with instructions to award only $14,748 (after applying a settlement payment by the subcontractor). "Actual damages by definition are damages grounded in reality," the court reasoned in rejecting the notion that all of the subcontractor's electrical work was "tainted" or rendered worthless by the underpayments, particularly where the harm was easily calculated and there was no dispute as to the work performed given that "the government turns on the lights every day."

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Client Alert | 7 min read | 12.17.25

CARB Proposes Regulations Implementing California GHG Emissions and Climate-Related Financial Risk Reporting Laws

After hosting a series of workshops and issuing multiple rounds of materials, including enforcement notices, checklists, templates, and other guidance, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has proposed regulations to implement the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act (SB 253) and the Climate-Related Financial Risk Act (SB 261) (both as amended by SB 219), which require large U.S.-based businesses operating in California to disclose greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate-related risks. CARB also published a Notice of Public Hearing and an Initial Statement of Reasons along with the proposed regulations. While CARB’s final rules were statutorily required to be promulgated by July 1, 2025, these are still just proposals. CARB’s proposed rules largely track earlier guidance regarding how CARB intends to define compliance obligations, exemptions, and key deadlines, and establish fee programs to fund regulatory operations....

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