In a new blot post, Mike Koehler writes about the ongoing conflict between Walmart and the Justice Department over the company’s FCPA scrutiny. One reason for the impasse appears to be side litigation between the government and Walmart concerning certain privileged issues.

The Fourth Circuit recently agreed with Walmart’s position (although not identifying the company by name). Its opinion was based on “standard principles of contract interpretation” and is the second decision in the FCPA context in recent weeks in which a court disagreed with the government’s interpretation of a document relevant to an FCPA inquiry.

Read the excerpted opinion at FCPA Professor