Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP

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Legislative Advocacy

We have unique experience handling Washington representations in litigation matters. Navigating the complex concerns of public opinion, media coverage, political forces, and the interplay among branches of government, we help lawyers from around the country to monitor legislation, hearings, investigations, and regulatory proceedings that may affect their cases.

We have also provided Washington representation for several organizations, including the National Association of Securities and Consumer Attorneys (NASCAT), the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL), the Songwriters Guild of America, West Publishing Company, and Center for Justice & Democracy.

Securities Litigation Reform

We directed a nationwide coalition of hundreds of public interest organizations and state and local government entities in a multi-million dollar legislative campaign to protect investor rights.

The campaign prevented the worst aspects of proposed limits on the rights of investors from being enacted by Congress in the 2006 Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA). As a result, cheated investors in corporate scandals such as Enron and WorldCom have achieved unprecedented recoveries of billions of dollars.

The Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL)

We are the Washington, DC representatives for COSAL, which was established in 1986 to promote and support the enactment, preservation and enforcement of a strong body of antitrust laws in the United States. It is the only organization in Washington, D.C. that is dedicated to lobbying for strong antitrust laws and effective private enforcement.

In 2010, COSAL is working to overturn two Supreme Court cases that have made it much more difficult for people to use the federal courts to redress wrongs; to make changes to the Antitrust Criminal Penalty Enhancement and Reform Act so that companies that conspire to fix prices can be held accountable by the victims of their wrongdoing; and to stop the practice of brand name pharmaceutical companies reaching settlements with generic drug companies to keep generics off the market.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

Representing The National Association of Shareholder and Consumer Attorneys (NASCAT), our firm led the charge for an extension of the statute of limitations in securities fraud cases as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. That controversial provision was adopted over Republican stall tactics on the floor of the Senate aimed exclusively at this provision.

As a result, investors who have been defrauded have a much longer time to bring the suit after the fraud or after the discovery of the fraud. This landmark provision overruled a Supreme Court decision in Lampf, Pleva, Lipkind, Prupis & Petigrow v. Gilbertson, et al.

Vermont Agency of Natural Resources - False Claims Act

The False Claims Act (FCA) is a Federal law allowing individuals, known as whistleblowers, to file a claim on the Federal Government's behalf against an individual or contractor that is defrauding the government by knowingly presenting false claims. In Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States ex rel. Stevens, the United States Supreme Court held that a private individual may not bring suit in federal court on behalf of the United States against a State (or state agency) under the FCA.

Jonathan Cuneo and Charles Tiefer filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Project on Government Oversight in this landmark case on the scope of FCA. Cuneo and Tiefer argued that the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act "allowed insiders of conscience to challenge specific procurement fraud in court… and, if vindicated, to do well by doing good."

Legislative Advocacy

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