Aerospace and Defense
Innovative representation for domestic and international concerns
We provide innovative representation to aerospace and defense clients at home and abroad in a range of sensitive matters, including False Claims Act cases, whistleblower claims, internal investigations and compliance reviews, environmental actions and contract disputes. We have represented clients in congressional and Department of Justice investigations, and Foreign Corrupt Practices matters, avoiding litigation whenever possible, but taking major cases to trial when necessary.
Services
We provide litigation and investigative support to our aerospace and defense clients, including:
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Clients
Our clients include major companies in the aerospace and defense industries, such as:
- Bechtel
- Lawrence Livermore National Security
- RTX Corporation
- Boeing
- Lockheed
- Scaled Composites
- Jacobs Engineering
- Northrop Grumman
Related Practices
Team
The scale and importance of these matters draws some of our most experienced attorneys, including:
Experience
Our litigation work in aerospace and defense includes representing:
- Bechtel National Inc. and its subsidiary, Waste Treatment Completion Company, in defending against criminal charges alleging false billings in connection with the clean-up of a site that had produced plutonium for nuclear weapons. MTO resolved the case through a civil settlement.
- Boeing in:
- Winning reversal of a $604 million verdict awarded to ICO Global Communications Holdings Ltd., which had alleged that Boeing committed a breach of contract by building a satellite communications network.
- Securing dismissal with prejudice of a trade secrets action filed under RICO by Lockheed-Martin.
- Winning a decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, invalidating patent claims that a retired engineer had accused Boeing of infringing.
- General Electric Aircraft Engines in wrongful death litigation arising from the crash of a China Eastern Airlines jet. MTO won a defense motion, affirmed on appeal, to transfer the case, on forum non conveniens grounds, from Los Angeles state court to courts in Beijing.
- Lawrence Livermore National Security in defending against a False Claims Act action brought by a former design physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory alleging False Claims Act violations and whistleblower retaliation. The FCA claims were voluntarily dismissed, and MTO secured summary judgment on the remaining retaliation claim.
- Lockheed Martin in:
- Successfully defending a jury verdict rejecting a $400 million False Claims Act claim.
- Affirming the dismissal of a $5 million third-party beneficiary claim alleging that Lockheed breached various contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense by not selecting an authorized supplier of packing materials.
- Northrop Grumman in:
- Internal and U.S. Air Force investigations of the Global Hawk aircraft crash.
- Obtaining victory in the Federal Circuit ensuring that Defense Contract Management Agency (“DCMA”) cannot deny Northrop compensation for more than $250 million in post-retirement benefit costs that DCMA had unlawfully withheld.
- Obtaining a civil settlement and a declination of criminal charges relating to a DOJ investigation of overseas time-charging.
- Scaled Composites, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman,in an internal investigation and government investigations relating to the accidental crash and destruction of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.
- HDT Global, a portfolio company of Nexus Capital Management, in its acquisition of Aviation Ground Equipment Corp., a privately held, veteran-owned aviation ground support equipment manufacturer for the military and commercial industries.
- Air Lease Corporation in resolving allegations of trade secret theft, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair competition relating to the formation of the company by Steven Udvar-Hazy after he retired from competitor International Lease Financing Corporation (“ILFC”), a subsidiary of AIG.
- A defense contractor in connection with its acquisition of a provider of key components. MTO prepared to litigate an FTC challenge to the acquisition until the FTC decided not to challenge the acquisition.
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