Will Latest Fighter Jet Termination Be Deja Vu All Over Again?

摘要

As Congress debated whether to approve funding additional F22 Raptor stealth fighters, the protracted death of another stealth fighter program was reverberating through the United States Court of Appeals. McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics v. United States 2007-5111 is the latest decision in a nearly 20-year-long legal battle relating to the 1991 termination of the Navy's A-12 stealth fighter program.rnWhen government contracts are terminated, the basis for the termination has enormous financial consequences for the parties. If a contractor is terminated for default, the contractor may not be entitled to any compensation whatsoever. However, if the government terminates a program for convenience, the contractor may be entitled to remuneration for any legitimate costs incurred (according to Federal Acquisition Regulations). As is often the case when millions or billions of dollars are at stake, disagreements over the basis for a program termination are likely. However, few cases soar to the Dickensian heights of McDonnell Douglas and General Dynamics v. United States, as demonstrated by the court's comparison of the matter to the endless Jarndyce and Jarndyce case in the Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House.