Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently issued a memorandum
rolling out a new policy prohibiting settlement payments to third
parties. The policy, which is effective immediately, prohibits DOJ
attorneys from entering into settlement agreements that include
payments to non-governmental organizations or third-party
organizations that were not parties to the dispute. The memorandum
aims to ensure that settlement funds are used to compensate
victims, redress harm, or punish and deter unlawful conduct.
In the environmental context, this policy appears to be aimed at
supplemental environmental projects in which the terms of a
settlement agreement may require direct payment to third party
environmental non-government organizations to implement a
negotiated project with environmental benefits. The memo does
provide a narrow set of exceptions for payments to provide
restitution to victims or to directly remedy the harm the case
sought to redress, including harm to the
