Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto is a Washington, D.C., United States, based international whistleblower rights law firm specializing in anti-corruption and whistleblower law, representing whistleblowers who seek rewards, or who are facing employer retaliation, for reporting violations of the False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform, Sarbanes-Oxley Acts, Commodity and Security Exchange Acts and the IRS Whistleblower law.
The firm's most notable client is Bradley Birkenfeld, a private banker who blew the whistle on UBS AG's aiding and abetting of tax fraud by the Swiss bank's American clientele. Other notable clients include Danske Bank whistleblower Howard Wilkinson, who exposed what many experts believe to be the largest money laundering scandal in world banking history, and Linda Tripp, the former White House and U.S. Department of Defense employee who blew the whistle on President Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. __TOC__
Current operations Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto specializes in a variety of anti-corruption and whistleblower law practice areas, including tax evasion, securities and commodities fraud, qui tam, environmental crimes, animal trafficking, and white-collar crime. The firm has also worked on behalf of whistleblowers who have suffered workplace retaliation for reporting fraud internally.
Working with the National Whistleblower Center, Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto is active on a range of pro bono works. KKC has provided pro bono representation to public interest organizations and whistleblowers at congressional policy and legislative hearings. The firm has submitted numerous amicus curiae briefs in landmark whistleblowing cases before the Supreme Court to establish legal precedents on whistleblower protection laws.
KKC has also served the public interest by filing various reports and petitions to contribute to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Internal Revenue Service whistleblower rulemaking. They have worked toward strengthening whistleblower reward provisions in major environmental and wildlife protection laws by advocating the effectiveness of incentivizing whistleblowers worldwide in preventing environmental crimes.
Legal history
Founding and establishment Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto was founded in 1988 by Stephen Kohn, Michael Kohn, and David Colapinto. The three partners also founded the National Whistleblower Center in 1988.
Initial cases (1985–1989) Before founding Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto, the future partners represented whistleblowers in complex civil litigation against major corporations, including Duke Power Company, Brown & Root, Inc. Texas Utilities, DuPont, B.F. Shaw Co., and Arizona Public Service.
Roger Wensil & Joy Adams (1985-87) and disqualifying unethical corporate law firm Among their early victories was disqualifying the most prestigious corporate law firm representing nuclear utilities for unethical conduct, winning the first-ever successful whistleblower case at a nuclear weapons plant, including reinstatement orders for whistleblowers Roger Wensil and Joy Adams.
Douglas Plumley, Howard Samuel Nunn and Kansas Gas and Electric (1985-88) Prior to founding Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto, Stephen Kohn served as the director of corporate litigation of the Government Accountability Project, and prevailed on a number of precedent-setting cases. Kohn represented whistleblower Douglas Plumley, who filed a lawsuit claiming chemical fumes from the furniture shop were injurious and in violation of the Clean Air Act. This was first-ever case finding a federal prisoner covered under a whistleblower law.
Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto also set a nationwide legal precedent in the case Howard Samuel Nunn, Jr., v. Duke Power Company.
Duke Power expanded the scope of protected activity under the nuclear whistleblower law to include raising safety concerns with non-profit advocacy groups. Kohn was also one of the principle authorities behind the amicus brief filed in the Kansas Gas and Electric case that set important precedent protecting quality assurance inspectors and internal whistleblowers from retaliation.
In 1985, future founder and partner of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto Stephen M. Kohn wrote the first-ever legal treatise on whistleblower law, Protecting Environmental and Nuclear Whistleblowers: A Litigation Manual. James Florio, the former Congressman and Governor of New Jersey described the books as “an invaluable tool for environmental groups, unions and labor lawyers". - Congressional Record (Feb. 26, 1987).
The Village Voice (1988) Stephen Kohn represented The Village Voice newspaper in a high-profile case regarding depositions conducted in the controversial Iran-Contra affair. Kohn successfully argued that The Voice has a right to sit in on pretrial depositions, over the objection of one of the Iran-Contra defendants. The U.S. District Court agreed and set national precedent on this issue. The case was widely reported in the New York Times, the ABA Journal and other publications, and remains the controlling precedent.
Early cases (1988–1990s)
Joseph J. Macktal, Harry Barko and hush money (1988) The firm successfully litigated the first whistleblower hush money cases, which resulted in a nationwide ban on restrictive settlements in nuclear and environmental lawsuits. As a result, settlement agreements required government approval to ensure the rights of whistleblowers to report safety issues. The firm successfully litigated these hush money cases in the Fourth, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits.
Founded in July 1988, Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto's earliest case involved representing whistleblower Joseph J. Macktal, a journeyman electrician who was retaliated against and eventually terminated as a result of raising safety concerns at the KBR's Comanche Peak nuclear power plant.
In 1986, Macktal filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the prime contractor at the Comanche Peak nuclear power construction site. The agreement contained a restrictive non-disclosure agreement prohibiting Macktal from raising safety concerns with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Macktal strongly objected to the non-disclosure agreement, but was told by his then-attorneys that he no choice, and to sign away his rights in order to settle his employment case.
In 1988, Macktal terminated his prior lawyers and hired the law firm of Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto for the purpose of challenging the legality of his settlement agreement, which he termed as a “hush money” deal. Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto released Macktal's agreement to the public and asked the NRC and Department of Labor to find the agreement void against public policy. They also contacted the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Nuclear Regulation requesting that they exercise their oversight responsibility to outlaw these types of agreements nationwide. This dispute lead to a nationwide debate and was followed by a series of proceedings in which Macktal systemically outlawed the practice.
The case included a successful appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, forcing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to prohibit restrictive non-disclosure agreements nationwide. Ultimately decisions in the Labor Department found the settlement void, permitting Macktal to reinstate his labor case and keep the settlement money he was paid, while also continuing to sue KBR. The Macktal case was the first case outlawing restrictive non-disclosure under whistleblower laws.
Years later, Harry Barko exposed similar NDAs used by KBR to hide fraud in taxpayer spending in the War in Iraq. Barko took his case to the Securities and Exchange Commission and won the precedent outlawing all such agreements in the publicly traded economy. Together, Macktal and Barko set the legal precedent that today benefits all whistleblowers and changed the face of modern whistleblower law.
Nuclear and FBI whistleblowers (1990–2000s)
Vera English (1990) Vera English was a lab technician at one of the nuclear facilities owned and operated by the General Electric Company. English was terminated from her position after exposing radioactive contamination in the facility. Her case went to the Supreme Court, English v. General Electric Company, and set a precedent allowing whistleblowers to seek cases under state law. Her win also displayed the application of whistleblower protection legislation in cases of whistleblowing in nuclear energy cases.
Linda Mitchell (1992) Linda Mitchell was an engineer at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station when she blew the whistle on the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) – the owner of the generating station.
In 1985, Mitchell reported a number of safety concerns she observed at Palo Verde to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Most notably, Mitchell brought concerns to management regarding a computer program the facility was using, as well as the layout of the plant. In 1989, Mitchell filed a complaint to the NRC, alleging that the Arizona Public Service Company had attempted to suppress an ongoing NRC investigation and the findings of safety issues at Palo Verde. Soon after her reporting, she was subjected to harassment personally and at the facility.
In 1992, Mitchell won a Department of Labor discrimination lawsuit, and in 1994, was granted permission to have a public hearing before the NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. She also requested three of the units at Palo Verde be reduced to zero percent power until a further safety review could be conducted.
Sarah Thomas (1993) Sarah Thomas was a Radiation Waste Aide at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station when she blew the whistle on the Arizona Public Service Company (APS) – the owner of the generation station. Soon after her reporting, she was subjected to harassment personally and at the facility. She filed a complaint with the Department of Labor concerning various safety violations, a failure to promote, and harassment on the job. APS was ordered to promote Thomas to a senior technician position, and also provide her with damages as a result of the discrimination.
William Marcus (1994) William Marcus was a Senior Science Advisor to the Environmental Protection Agency, when he witnessed the Office of Drinking Water approve a policy that added fluoride to the nations drinking water. He was immediately fired for his report, which claimed that fluoride could increase cancer rates in the population.
Marcus' testimony led to the founding of various frauds committed by major chemical companies who tried to suppress his safety concerns. In front of an Administrative Law Judge, Marcus won his case and was instated with full back pay, as well as significant award damages for his suffering.
Allen Mosbaugh (1995) Allen Mosbaugh worked as a superintendent of engineering liaison at the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, owned by the Georgia Power Company. In 1989, Mosbaugh sent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) a memo about a violation of technical specifications, in regards to specific valves at the plant.
In 1990, Mosbaugh joined Marvin Hobby in petition the NRC to perform a review of the Georgia Power Company, asking to impose civil penalties for dangerous operation of the facility. They also petitioned the NRC to petitioned for penalties for the illegal transfer of control to the Southern Nuclear Operating Company. In that same year, Mosbaugh was terminated from his position.