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On Oct. 11, 2018, the Virginia Supreme Court extended the duty of care owed by an employer beyond just employees to any family members or third parties who may be affected by the employer’s action. In a 4-3 decision, the court ruled in Quisenberry v. Huntington Ingalls, Inc. that if an employer knew or should have known that an employee’s clothing dusted with asbestos could be handled by others, the employer owed a duty of care to those other people. Recognizing that the impact of this decision on tort law and business litigation in general will extend beyond the asbestos claims at issue in the case, the dissent warned that after this decision, “no one will be able to predict who else among the host of possible targets will be subjected to this novel theory of liability.”

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Photo of Greenberg Traurig Greenberg Traurig

Brett A. Castellat represents government contractors on a multitude of matters dealing with federal and state-level procurements. Brett handles protests before the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Small Business Administration (SBA), and Court of Federal Claims in bid-related disputes involving primarily firms dealing with

Brett A. Castellat represents government contractors on a multitude of matters dealing with federal and state-level procurements. Brett handles protests before the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Small Business Administration (SBA), and Court of Federal Claims in bid-related disputes involving primarily firms dealing with the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, Department of State, and other federal agencies. Brett also handles matters related to the Contracts Disputes Act and disputes between prime contractors and subcontractors. Brett has also assisted in matters related to issues regarding restrictive covenants, such as non-solicitation clauses, between contractors. Brett has also assisted in representation involving regulatory compliance under various regulatory frameworks, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the General Data Protection Regulations, and various ethics related regulatory frameworks, such as those dealing with organizational conflicts of interest and post-employment restrictions, including at the state-level.

Photo of Michael R. Sklaire Michael R. Sklaire

Michael R. Sklaire is the Co-Managing Shareholder of the Northern Virginia Office and focuses his practice on government investigations, business crimes, and financial litigation and regulation. He has wide-ranging experience as a trial lawyer, including more than 11 years with the U.S. Department

Michael R. Sklaire is the Co-Managing Shareholder of the Northern Virginia Office and focuses his practice on government investigations, business crimes, and financial litigation and regulation. He has wide-ranging experience as a trial lawyer, including more than 11 years with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He handles jury trials, non-jury trials, class action litigation and arbitrations, both domestic and international. Michael represents corporations and executives before federal agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) . He also provides corporate compliance advice and conducts internal investigations in matters relating to procurement fraud and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Michael is frequently quoted in national publications as having wide-ranging experience handling public corruption, securities fraud and parallel civil and criminal investigations. He has published numerous articles and frequently lectures on a variety of legal issues.

Michael’s commercial litigation practice focuses primarily on assisting clients in the financial services industry including local and national banks, consumer finance companies and mortgage bankers. He represents large private and public companies in complex litigation matters in federal and appellate courts around the country.

Photo of Thomas J. McKee, Jr. Thomas J. McKee, Jr.

Tom is a commercial litigator and bankruptcy practitioner who regularly practices in state and federal courts, including bankruptcy courts, around the country.

In his practice, Tom counsels and represents financial institutions, including national, regional, and community banks and lenders to litigate various types

Tom is a commercial litigator and bankruptcy practitioner who regularly practices in state and federal courts, including bankruptcy courts, around the country.

In his practice, Tom counsels and represents financial institutions, including national, regional, and community banks and lenders to litigate various types of disputes, including creditors’ rights/enforcement matters, successor liability type issues, fiduciary duty claims, consumer claims, as well as loan origination and servicing issues.

Tom’s bankruptcy practice and experience provides a particular benefit to his creditor clients who suddenly find themselves having to navigate the process to protect their rights. He regularly handles issues arising from liquidations and reorganizations, as well as adversary proceedings, preference actions, fraudulent transfers, violations of the automatic stay, and lift stay motions. Tom also has experience representing liquidating trustees.

Tom’s commercial litigation practice frequently involves representing businesses and executives in connection with a wide variety of business disputes, including breaches of contract, breaches of fiduciary duties, construction disputes, employment matters, misappropriation of trade secrets, class action defense, and government investigations. His practice regularly focuses on assisting emerging growth technology companies and start-ups with respect to disputes they frequently encounter, including founder and partnership disputes, non-disclosure issues, stock vesting compensation matters, and master service agreement violations.

Photo of David G. Barger David G. Barger

David G. Barger focuses his practice on white collar criminal defense, government investigations, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations, corporate compliance, including FCPA compliance, criminal and civil tax and FBAR matters, and complex commercial litigation. His practice includes representing companies and individuals

David G. Barger focuses his practice on white collar criminal defense, government investigations, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations, corporate compliance, including FCPA compliance, criminal and civil tax and FBAR matters, and complex commercial litigation. His practice includes representing companies and individuals in civil and criminal government investigations often involving government contract issues; and handling complex civil litigation and trials, in both state and federal courts in such areas as commercial transactions, construction, government contracts, employment and real estate.

Mr. Barger is head of the Northern Virginia Litigation Practice. His representation has included corporations, corporate executives and professionals such as attorneys, accountants and physicians in fields such as environmental matters, FCPA matters, health care, criminal tax, public official investigations, copyright and trademark, securities and SEC matters, appellate representations, government contracts, and immigration. He has over 35 years of experience as a trial attorney in complex litigation and has tried well over 100 cases.

Mr. Barger was a federal prosecutor in the EDVA Fraud Section and the Department of Justice for approximately 16 years. He was lead counsel in hundreds of cases involving complex fraud issues.

While working as an assistant U.S. attorney, he handled fraud investigations and prosecutions throughout the district, including Alexandria, Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia. He also served as the coordinator for the Environmental Crimes Task Force for the district and the ethics officer and professional responsibility officer. From February 1998 to September 1999, he was detailed to the Office of the Independent Counsel, the Honorable Kenneth W. Starr, where he supervised the Alexandria Office from July 1998 to September 1999 and handled certain high profile investigations and prosecutions. Mr. Barger was the lead prosecutor and supervisor of the investigative and trial team in the criminal tax prosecution of United States v. Webster L. Hubbell, et al. From 1984 to 1989, Mr. Barger was a trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Tax Division, Criminal Tax Section where he investigated and tried numerous criminal tax cases throughout the U.S. From 1981 to 1984 he was an assistant professor of political science and law at James Madison University.

He is an adjunct faculty member of Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law and has taught criminal trial procedure since 1998.