Jeff H. Eckland, the President of, and a partner at, Eckland & Blando, focuses his practice on government contracts and general commercial litigation. Jeff successfully argued Franconia Associates v. United States, 536 U.S. 129 (2002), before the United States Supreme Court, establishing that when the Government transacts business with its citizens it must do so by the same rules as everyone else – and that an Act of Congress can therefore constitute a breach of contract. The Franconia Associates line of cases has resulted in aggregate settlements of over $900 Million on behalf of Section 515 affordable housing owners, and Jeff continues to lead the Tucker Act Claims (TAC) administrative settlement program through which owners nationwide are compensated for their lost prepayment rights. He has litigated cases in state and federal courts across the country, including the state courts of California, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oregon, and Texas; the federal district courts of Alaska, Arizona, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee; the United States Court of Federal Claims (COFC); the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA); the USDA National Appeals Division; the Minnesota and Texas Courts of Appeals; and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Eighth, Ninth, and Federal Circuits.
Jeff has tried a wide range of traditional government contract cases at the federal and state levels, including bid protests, performance disputes, compliance proceedings, terminations for default (T/D) and convenience (T/C), defective pricing, qui tam, and False Claims Act (FCA) litigation. He also has negotiated stays of suspension and debarment proceedings at the Pentagon, represented government contractors in civil and criminal environmental proceedings, and recovered increased costs for the construction of a Naval Brig at Miramar Naval Air Station (“Top Gun”). Jeff counsels government contractors and their subcontractors on transactional and compliance issues, including all phases of contract negotiation and administration, termination settlement proposals (TSPs), cost allowability, intellectual property, and technical data rights. He also pursues claims against state and federal governments and their agencies for redress of Government abuse of power and discretion under the U.S. and State Constitutions, the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
Jeff represents businesses and individuals in many other kinds of commercial disputes, including jury and court trials, appeals, prejudgment injunctions and other remedies, arbitrations and mediations, and administrative hearings. He was a member of the trial teams in the In re Glacier Bay and Exxon Valdez oil spill litigation in Alaska, where he was primarily responsible for developing the evidentiary foundation for the successful fisheries price-drop claim in Glacier Bay and for supervising expert discovery involving the Kenai River salmon sonar counters in Exxon Valdez. He has tried patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret, unfair competition, Lanham Act, antitrust, securities, fraud, misrepresentation, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference with contractual relations, RICO, employment discrimination, dealer termination, breach of contract, takings, environmental, and other types of cases.
In addition to trying cases, Jeff obtains quick court action to protect his clients’ interests and has secured emergency injunctive relief in more than twenty civil actions. Before litigation begins, he advises clients on the procedural, tactical, and strategic issues involved in commencing and defending civil actions; on ways to avoid litigation or to prevent or reduce liability should it occur; and on the relative risks, benefits, and costs of litigation.
Jeff graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 1979 and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1982. He is a member of the Public Contract Law and Science & Technology Law Sections of the American Bar Association (ABA) and serves on the State Law Database Committee, where he chairs the drafting of the procurement law outlines published by the ABA for Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. He is also a member of the committee revising Article 9 of the Model Procurement Code (MPC). Jeff is a Fellow of the National Contract Management Association (NCMA), has served on its Board of Advisors, as its National Director, and was President of its Twin Cities Chapter from 1995 to 1996. A long-standing member of the Planning Committee for the University of Minnesota’s Annual National Seminar on Government Contracts, he received the University of Minnesota’s Alan E. Peterson Award for Distinguished Service in Government Contracting in 2015. Jeff writes and lectures on a variety of government contract topics.
