D’Andrea Brother LLC v. The United States

D’Andrea Brother LLC v. The United States is a breach of contract case involving a contract between a producer of nutritional energy bars and the United States Army, Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center. Plaintiff alleged that the government breached its implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by failing to support development of the product and “bad mouthing” the product to others. Plaintiff sought reliance damages, claiming that it never would have entered into the contract had it known the government would breach the contract. Bradley Reiff testified on behalf of The United States in the Court of Federal Claims in October that the plaintiffs’ reliance damages would be speculative because, even absent the alleged breach of contract by the government, the evidence showed that Plaintiff’s investment pursuant to the contract would have failed. In an opinion issued on February 8, 2013, the Court adopted that position in awarding zero damages, despite a liability finding on behalf of the Plaintiff. Lynette Neumann provided first-rate assistance in the analysis. Compass Lexecon worked with Sheryl Floyd of the United States Department of Justice.