Court Of Federal Claims Examines Contracting Authority
Client Alert | 1 min read | 03.05.08
Following a recent Federal Circuit decision, Winter v. Cath-Dr/Balti Joint Venture (Aug. 17, 2007), which held that a contractor cannot rely on a government agent's implied authority when the contract "explicitly and exclusively" assigns the particular function to the CO, the Court of Federal Claims reaffirmed the viability of implied authority in Stevens Van Lines v. U.S. (Jan. 23, 2008). In Stevens, Senior Judge Smith held that a government official has implied authority to bind the government when "such authority is considered to be an integral part of the duties assigned" to that employee and when the power to contract is "appropriate or essential" to the performance of the employee's duties.
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Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.21.25
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.
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 3 min read | 11.20.25
Client Alert | 6 min read | 11.19.25
