The Justice Department has agreed to pay the Municipality of Anchorage $180 million to resolve long-running litigation over the failed Port of Anchorage expansion project, closing out a dispute that has been pending for more than a decade. For public-law watchers and federal litigators, the settlement stands out both for its size and for the age of the case, which traces back to a 2014 filing in the Court of Federal Claims.

The underlying lawsuit, ANCHORAGE, A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION v. USA, arose from an expansion effort at the Port of Anchorage that ultimately failed, leaving behind years of litigation over responsibility for the project’s breakdown and the resulting financial harm.