Chamber Litigation Blog

Jeffrey S. Bucholtz, Ethan P. Davis, Jamie Lang, Amy Boring, King & Spalding LLP

This biweekly blog will explore top False Claims Act (FCA) developments.  We’ll cover the waterfront, including significant resolutions with DOJ, important judicial decisions, speeches by government officials, and much more.  Most of our posts will be high level and designed for a quick read, but we’ll occasionally publish in-depth pieces on specific topics. 

In this inaugural edition, you can read about a Fifth Circuit decision addressing DOJ’s authority to dismiss qui tam FCA suits brought by private relators; an uptick in enforcement against skilled nursing facilities; a D.C. Circuit decision involving fraudulent inducement liability; and an interesting concurring opinion from D.C. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao.

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Stephen Tagert

This week’s top COVID-19 litigation developments include: the Supreme Court’s refusal to halt enforcement of the CDC’s residential eviction moratorium; a New Jersey court’s rejection of business interruption insurance claims by the parent company of Versace; and a challenge to the constitutionality of a Nevada law that prevents certain efforts to collect medical debts incurred during the pandemic.

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP

This week’s top COVID-19 litigation developments include: the dismissal of a suit filed by employees challenging two Texas hospitals’ workplace vaccination mandates; a securities fraud lawsuit filed by the SEC against a healthcare company over its claims about test kits and disinfectants; and an insurance coverage suit concerning the Marriott Boston Long Wharf hotel, the site of an early super-spreader event.

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP

This week’s top COVID-19 litigation developments were: a lawsuit filed by healthcare workers challenging workplace vaccination requirements at two Houston hospitals; new workplace vaccination guidance from the EEOC; and the D.C. Circuit’s stay pending appeal of a trial court decision that vacated the CDC’s nationwide residential eviction moratorium.

Our Associate Chief Counsel Jennifer Dickey was a guest this week on McDermott Will & Emery’s “In the Trenches” Podcast with Brian Stimson.  Jenn gives a fascinating insider’s view from her time as a Supreme Court law clerk, Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to the President in the White House, Deputy Associate Attorney General, and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division at the Department of Justice.  

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP

This week’s top developments in COVID-19 litigation include: a securities class action against a solar panel company over its alleged failure to make certain disclosures about pandemic-related supply chain disruptions; a nuisance suit filed by business tenants against a landlord for supposedly flouting COVID-19 safety guidelines; and new litigation challenging the validity of the CDC’s recently-vacated moratorium on residential evictions.

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP

This week’s top COVID-19 litigation developments include: a district court order vacating the residential eviction moratorium enacted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”); a Sixth Circuit decision that Kentucky’s probe of alleged price-gouging in connection with sellers on Amazon’s online marketplace does not violate the Dormant Commerce Clause; the discovery of a large data breach in Pennsylvania’s contact tracing system; and a new Florida law banning the use of “vaccine passports.” 

Jason A. Levine, Ryan Martin-Patterson, and Stephen Tagert, Alston & Bird LLP

This week’s top COVID-19 litigation developments are: securities fraud class actions filed against vaccine manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions over undisclosed production problems, and against a Chinese bitcoin manufacturer over pandemic-related supply chain disruptions; a class action against Bank of America over the technology used in its California unemployment benefit debit cards; and a contract suit filed against a testing company that charged $600,000 to perform just 40 COVID-19 tests.

Jennifer B. Dickey

What’s all this talk about public and private rights?

Once relegated to a small portion of Federal Courts textbooks, Justice Thomas has recently led a revival of discussion of the public/private rights distinction.  His views, though often ignored by advocates as idiosyncratic, may prove critical for businesses seeking to build a majority at the Supreme Court, particularly in the area of Article III standing.  And with a significant number of Thomas clerks now on the federal courts, those views may also be relevant and important in other courts.