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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 | 4 min read | 09.10.26

European Commission Publishes Landmark Guidelines on Exclusionary Abuses by Dominant Companies

On 3 September 2026, the European Commission adopted new Guidelines on the application of Article 102 TFEU to abusive exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. The Guidelines follow a public consultation on a draft published in August 2024 and reflect substantial stakeholder feedback. They replace the Commission's 2008 Guidance on enforcement priorities (which ceases to apply 30 days after publication of the new guidelines in the Official Journal) and represent the most significant reset of the Commission's Article 102 enforcement framework in nearly two decades. The Commission's stated aim is to set out principles and operational guidance, enhance legal certainty, and help companies self-assess their exclusionary-abuse risk....

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