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First things first: What’s a teller? In the world of parliamentary procedure, a teller is a person who helps to pass out, collect, and count ballots, and a head teller reports the results of a vote to the chair for announcement. Choosing tellers for a meeting usually goes like this: Chairman Always-On-the-Ball: [Five minutes before meeting, thinking to himself] Oh, wait. We need tellers to count the votes for the election. Oops. Forgot about that.…
Have you been injured at work in Illinois and been waiting for a settlement offer?  I have potentially good news for you. There is no better time of year than right now to get an offer. While there’s no law that requires an insurance company to make an offer when you are hurt in Illinois and if you don’t have a lawyer there is a much higher chance that they’ll never make an offer or…
On August 20, 2018, U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio granted summary judgment in favor of The Brink’s Company (Brink’s), concluding that Regional Federal Reserve Banks (RFRB) are not “the Government” for purposes of the federal False Claims Act (FCA). The relator’s qui tam action was premised on an alleged penny-swapping scheme. Brink’s and other armored carriers regularly enter Coin Terminal Agreements (CTA)…
Customers will frequently want you to complete performance sooner than may be required by the contract.  When presented with such a dilemma, contractors face the challenge of keeping the customer happy while performing the work in a manner that will meet specifications and the contractor’s business expectations.  To navigate this process effectively, it is important for contractors to have a working knowledge of the circumstances in which an acceleration claim may arise and what to…
(This article was originally published in Law360 and has been modified for this blog.) Peter Navarro, assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy, recently offered in a New York Times op-ed that “[a] strong manufacturing base is critical to both economic prosperity and national defense.” The Trump Administration’s maxim that “economic security is national security” is rooted in several government initiatives, ranging from large-scale policy reforms (like renegotiating the North American Free Trade…
On October 1, 2018, the District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed with prejudice a relator’s qui tam suit against Carelink Hospice Services, Inc. (Carelink) for failure to meet the heightened pleading standards mandated by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b). The court’s decision largely rested on the relator’s inability to specifically plead the existence of identifiable false claims—a strong affirmation that, in the Ninth Circuit, courts continue to hold relators to their…
The California Coastal Act establishes another layer of regulation governing “development” in the Coastal Zone. Development under the Coastal Act is defined to encompass essentially everything and anything.  For example, under the Coastal Act development includes such things as a lot line adjustment, releasing fireworks on the 4th of July, or putting up a “No Trespassing” sign.  While there are certain limited exemptions, in most cases individuals undertaking any development in the Coastal Zone must…
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Export Certificate office, introduced a new online application. The online application makes it possible to request a cGMP Declaration (Current Good Manufacturing Practice). A cGMP Declaration can be issued by the FDA to a foreign regulator, such as the competent authorities of an EU Member State. The declaration issued by the FDA is intended to confirm the current cGMP US…
To help you navigate the rough seas of doing business with the federal government in the Trump administration, Washington PTAC, Pacific Northwest Defense Coalition, AGC of Washington, and the Government Contracts team at Oles Morrison have assembled a group of nationally recognized government contracts professionals for a seminar covering topics relevant to government contractors across all industries. Session topics include: Federal Design-Build Challenges | Doug Oles, Partner, Oles Morrison Rinker &…
This morning, October 12, in sunny Pasadena, California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in the Robles v. Dominos case. The main issue on appeal was whether the district court erred in applying the doctrines of primary jurisdiction and due process as the basis for granting Domino’s motion to dismiss Robles’s claims that Dominos violated Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act due to an inaccessible website. The parties and judges…