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Gov't Scrutiny of Higher Education Institutions Continues

Client Alert | 1 min read | 09.12.12

On September 5, following a string of recent cases involving government scrutiny of academic institutions, the Second Circuit affirmed that Cornell University and a professor at the school had violated the FCA by submitting false claims in applications for federal grants. In a decision that should raise eyebrows in the higher education community, the court held that, because the research grant at issue "did not produce a tangible benefit" to the government and because "the government has entirely lost its opportunity to award the grant money to a recipient who would have used the money as the government intended," the proper measure of damages is the full amount of the grant.


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Client Alert | 7 min read | 08.16.24

From the Administrative State to the Wild West? What Employers Should Know About the Shifting Administrative Law Landscape

Over the past several years, federal courts have increasingly questioned the authority of administrative law judges (ALJs) to adjudicate alleged violations of certain labor and employment statutes.  In the last several weeks, two U.S. district courts in Texas issued decisions halting unfair labor practice proceedings before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on the grounds that NLRB ALJs lack the constitutional authority to preside over such actions due to unconstitutional protections against their removal.[1]  Similarly, the last year has seen several decisions by courts in the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits finding that ALJs, whose decisions are not reviewable by a Presidential appointee, lack constitutional authority under the Appointments Clause to adjudicate claims.[2]  The trend illustrated by these decisions, combined with the Supreme Court’s decision in June to abandon the Chevron doctrine of extending deference to federal agency rule-making proceedings, portend significant changes in the way employers interact with federal agencies that enforce labor and employment law. ...

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