1. Home
  2. |Insights
  3. |T4D Slam Dunked To T4C When Contractor Misled

T4D Slam Dunked To T4C When Contractor Misled

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 07.30.04

In Divecon Services, LP, the GSBCA overturned the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s termination for default of a contract to charter a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), despite the ROV’s failure to operate properly or obtain the ultimately desired data. The board reasoned that NOAA had waived any contract completion date by (1) encouraging the contractor right up to the day of termination (the originally specified contract completion date) to incur substantial costs for ROV repair work necessary for continued contract performance, (2) failing to set a new completion date, and (3) leading the contractor during last minute negotiations to believe that agreement on a contract extension was a “slam dunk.”

Insights

Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25

A Sign of What’s to Come? Court Dismisses FCA Retaliation Complaint Based on Alleged Discriminatory Use of Federal Funding

On November 7, 2025, in Thornton v. National Academy of Sciences, No. 25-cv-2155, 2025 WL 3123732 (D.D.C. Nov. 7, 2025), the District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation complaint on the basis that the plaintiff’s allegations that he was fired after blowing the whistle on purported illegally discriminatory use of federal funding was not sufficient to support his FCA claim. This case appears to be one of the first filed, and subsequently dismissed, following Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s announcement of the creation of the Civil Rights Fraud Initiative on May 19, 2025, which “strongly encourages” private individuals to file lawsuits under the FCA relating to purportedly discriminatory and illegal use of federal funding for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in violation of Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity (Jan. 21, 2025). In this case, the court dismissed the FCA retaliation claim and rejected the argument that an organization could violate the FCA merely by “engaging in discriminatory conduct while conducting a federally funded study.” The analysis in Thornton could be a sign of how forthcoming arguments of retaliation based on reporting allegedly fraudulent DEI activity will be analyzed in the future....

View All Insights