U.S. DOJ Requires Divestiture by Mittal Steel to Preserve Competition in the Tin Mill Products Industry
Client Alert | 1 min read | 02.20.07
On Tuesday, February 20, 2007, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it will require Mittal Steel Company N.V. to divest its Sparrows Point facility in Maryland to counteract competitive harm resulting from Mittal's recently proposed $33 billion acquisition of Arcelor S.A. According to the DOJ, Mittal's acquisition would have substantially lessened competition in the market for tin mill products in the eastern United States. Therefore, the DOJ's proposed consent decree will require Mittal to divest Dofasco Inc., a Canadian company owned by Arcelor, which the DOJ recognized may not be possible due to Arcelor's placement of legal title of Dofasco into a Dutch foundation in an attempt to defeat Mittal's hostile takeover bid. Thus, the DOJ proposed that if the sale of Dofasco cannot be carried out, then the DOJ will require Mittal to divest its Sparrows Point mill.
Insights
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
