Insights

Washington – August 15, 2024: The 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 42 Crowell & Moring lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 29 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

Washington – August 17, 2023: The 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® has recognized 47 firm lawyers as "Best Lawyers" and 41 lawyers as “Ones to Watch.”

In Danziger et al. v. U.S., No. 25-cv-1241 (Fed. Cl. Apr. 10, 2026) (a Crowell & Moring case), the Court of Federal Claims (COFC) denied the government’s motion to dismiss a complaint seeking breach of contract damages for improper terminations in bad faith and/or abuse of discretion. The case involves hundreds of contractors for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), who were terminated in 2025 in connection with the dismantling of USAID. The government sought to dismiss the case for failure to state a claim, arguing that the complaint failed to sufficiently plead bad faith or abuse of discretion. The court rejected these arguments, noting that the complaint was “replete with allegations implicating bad faith,” and specifically rejected the “peculiar notion” “that governmental misconduct is immunized when a contracting officer acts pursuant to directives from higher-ranking officials.” The court also held that the government’s payment of certain termination costs was no defense to the contractors’ breach claim and confirmed that an improper termination for convenience entitles contractors to termination costs as well as breach damages.

In its recently published FY 2025 Annual Report (Report), the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals (CBCA) provided detailed statistics about appeals involving disputes between contractors and civilian agencies.  This past year, the civilian agencies with the highest number of docketed claims at the Board were the Department of Veterans Affairs (70 appeals), the United States Agency for International Development (43 appeals), the General Services Administration (36 appeals), the Department of State (12 appeals ), and the Department of Education (12 appeals).  These agencies accounted for 173, or approximately 78%, of the 221 Contract Disputes Act (CDA) appeals docketed at the Board. 

Every year since 1979, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) has issued a Report of Transactions and Proceedings (Report), which provides helpful statistics for contractors and practitioners regarding the ASBCA’s docket and success rates for contractor litigation and ADR. The ASBCA published its FY 2025 Report on October 30, 2025.