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CFC Rejects Taxes Clause as Basis for Recovering Environmental Remediation Costs

Client Alert | 1 min read | 01.25.13

On January 13, the Court of Federal Claims in Shell Oil Co. v. U.S. held (1) the government was not liable for CERCLA environmental cleanup costs under the "Taxes" clause in certain World War II-era contracts; and (2) even if the "Taxes" clause had provided for indemnification, any indemnification rights were not preserved after contract termination. The "Taxes" clause and the absence of a reservation of rights to pursue indemnification in Shell is in contrast with the explicit "hold harmless" clauses in the facilities contracts cases in which the contractor reserved its rights to pursue indemnification (Ford and DuPont) and indemnification clauses authorized under Public Law 85-804, which contain explicit post-contract termination provisions.


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Client Alert | 8 min read | 09.24.25

Securing the Skies: Landmark Proposed Rule Contains New Security Requirements for Expanded Commercial Drone Deployments

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently proposed an expanded role regulating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones.  On August 7, 2025, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and TSA published a joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (proposed rule), titled Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations (BVLOS).  Through this landmark proposed rule, the FAA and TSA aim to provide industry with a clear path forward for streamlined UAS operations for a variety of purposes, including package delivery, agriculture, aerial surveying, civic interest (public safety), and flight testing.  Comments on the proposed rule are due October 6, 2025....