Environmental

  • November 06, 2024

    DOI Signs Bison Conservation Pact With Canada And Mexico

    The U.S. Department of the Interior said it has inked a new agreement with Canada and Mexico to work on strengthening conservation of the American bison across its range in North America while focusing on historic Indigenous ties with the species.

  • November 06, 2024

    Alaska Asks 9th Circ. To Roll Back Ringed Seal Protections

    The state of Alaska called on the Ninth Circuit to overturn a district court's refusal to eliminate Endangered Species Act protections for Arctic ringed seals, arguing the federal government failed to properly credit new information that raised serious questions about the necessity for continuing protections.

  • November 06, 2024

    Customers Look To Preserve Lead Class Action Against AT&T

    AT&T shareholders are telling a Texas federal judge that the company acted with scienter when it allegedly misled investors about the removal of lead-covered copper cables from its network, pushing back on AT&T's motion to dismiss the suit stemming from a drop in the company's stock price.

  • November 06, 2024

    Calif. Truckers Seek Scrub Of State's New Emissions Rule

    The California Trucking Association is asking a federal court in the state to give it a win in its challenge to the California Air Resources Board rule requiring that they switch to zero-emissions vehicles, saying the rule is preempted because it will impact trucking rates and routes.

  • November 06, 2024

    NC Agencies Say Forest Service Workers' OT Is Straight Time

    A North Carolina trial court correctly held that the overtime rate under state law for North Carolina Forest Service professional employees is a straight-time rate, two state agencies told the state's appeals court, arguing that a higher rate is not warranted.

  • November 06, 2024

    Solar Companies Reach $6M Deal In Employee Poaching Suit

    A residential solar power company with offices in Connecticut has secured a $6 million consent judgment against a competitor that it sued for poaching more than 80 of its workers, the company said Wednesday, putting an end to the litigation that had sought more than $11 million in damages.

  • November 06, 2024

    Poultry Cos. Can't Nab Quick Appeal Of Pollution Verdict Plan

    Tyson, Cargill and other poultry producers have not shown that an immediate appeal of an Oklahoma federal judge's plan to hash out remedies concerning a river pollution trial that took place over a decade ago would "materially advance the ultimate termination of the litigation," the judge ruled.

  • November 06, 2024

    Gray Reed Co-Founder James McGraw Dies At 74

    James "Jim" McGraw, one of the founding partners of Texas law firm Gray Reed & McGraw LLP, has died at age 74, the firm announced Wednesday.

  • November 06, 2024

    Ariz. Judge Blocks Lithium Exploration Drilling Project

    An Arizona federal judge blocked a third phase of a Sandy Valley lithium exploration project Tuesday, ruling that the Bureau of Land Management likely fell short of its duties to weigh potential impacts to a hot spring known as Ha'Kamwe' that is sacred to the Hualapai Indian Tribe.

  • November 06, 2024

    Tax Court To Rethink $1.9M Deduction Denial Post-Chevron

    The U.S. Tax Court agreed to reconsider its denial of a $1.9 million tax break for farming sought by a Texas couple, saying it will examine whether a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning long-standing deference to federal agencies invalidates regulations at issue in the case.

  • November 06, 2024

    Mining Developer Wants In On Nevada Lithium Project Row

    The owner and developer behind the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Mine asked a Nevada federal judge to let it intervene in a challenge brought by environmental and tribal groups seeking to upend the U.S. Department of the Interior's authorization of the mine project.

  • November 06, 2024

    Calif. DA Recalled In Latest Blow To Progressive Prosecutors

    San Francisco Bay Area residents have voted to recall Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price less than two years after she took office, following a multimillion-dollar campaign backed by conservative-tied nonprofits that criticized Price's prosecution policies for being overly liberal.

  • November 05, 2024

    Trump Win Puts Emissions Regs On Chopping Block

    Projected president-elect Donald Trump is expected to roll back Biden administration rules and initiatives meant to slash transportation-sector emissions and encourage the adoption of electric vehicles likely focusing on what experts say would be more "traditional" infrastructure investment in highways, roads and bridges.

  • November 05, 2024

    Trump Win Assures Halt To Biden's Enviro Priorities

    As Donald Trump emerges as the projected 47th president of the United States, environmental law experts are looking for him to quickly depart from the Biden administration's priorities and return to the form established in his first administration by taking a lax approach to industry enforcement, rolling back climate change rules, reducing stringency of regulations and deemphasizing environmental justice.

  • November 05, 2024

    Trump Has Official Immunity. What About His Aides?

    Whether the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity extends to subordinates who follow a president's orders has become a more pressing question in the wake of Donald Trump's projected election win, according to legal experts.

  • November 05, 2024

    How Trump Can Quash His Criminal Cases

    Donald Trump's projected victory at the polls also translates to a win in the courts, as the second-term president will have the power to end both of his federal criminal cases. And the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on presidential immunity would shield him from any consequences for ordering his charges to be dismissed, experts say.

  • November 05, 2024

    An Early Look At Trump's Supreme Court Shortlist

    With former President Donald Trump projected to win the 2024 presidential election and the Republicans' success in securing the U.S. Senate majority, Trump may now get the chance to appoint two more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, cementing the court's conservative tilt for decades to come.

  • November 05, 2024

    GOP's Senate Win Hands Future Of The Judiciary To Trump

    Republicans were projected to take back the White House and Senate and possibly the House early Wednesday, putting the GOP in position to back Donald Trump's agenda and his slate of young, conservative judicial nominees. 

  • November 05, 2024

    The Firms With An Inside Track To A New Trump Admin

    Law firms that have represented Donald Trump and the Republican Party on everything from personal legal woes to election-related lawsuits could see the risks of that work pay dividends as Trump is projected to secure a second term in office.

  • November 05, 2024

    Nat'l Park Service Makes Tribal Consultation A Top Priority

    The National Park Service's director has issued a first-time agency order making nation-to-nation consultations with Native American and Alaska Native tribes a top priority for agency decision-makers as they work on conservation and other issues that affect Indigenous communities.

  • November 05, 2024

    Feds Push For Win In Tongass National Forest Road Rule Row

    The U.S. government is asking an Alaska federal judge to affirm its decision to reinstate roadless area protections for millions of acres of the Tongass National Forest, arguing its authority to enact such rules to balance uses is spelled out in statute and has long been recognized by courts.

  • November 05, 2024

    Mich. Judge Won't Delay Benton Harbor Lead Pollution Suit

    A federal magistrate judge in Michigan rejected a request to push back a scheduling conference in litigation over lead contamination in a Michigan city's drinking water, ordering the parties on Monday to press forward with resolving the significantly narrowed case.

  • November 05, 2024

    Groups Lose Early Bid To Undo Calif. Climate Disclosure Laws

    A California federal judge rejected the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups' attempt to block California's corporate climate disclosure rules before discovery, ruling Tuesday that discovery is needed for the court to answer whether the laws facially violate the First Amendment.

  • November 05, 2024

    States Say EPA 'Wants To Drive The Car' In CWA Row

    Idaho and a coalition of states are asking a North Dakota federal judge to strike down a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring states to consider tribal treaty rights when they set their water quality standards, arguing the agency has no such power under the Clean Water Act.

  • November 05, 2024

    EPA's Superfund 'Blank Check' Dooms PFAS Rule, Groups Say

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wrote itself a legal "blank check" to increase the number of chemicals subject to required cleanups under federal Superfund law, industry advocates told the D.C. Circuit.

Expert Analysis

  • How Corner Post Affects Enviro Laws' Statutes Of Limitations

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board has helped to alter the fundamental underpinnings of administrative law — and its plaintiff-centric approach may have implications for some specific environmental laws' statutes of limitations, say Chris Leason and Liam Martin at Gallagher and Kennedy.

  • 2 Vital Trial Principles Endure Amid Tech Advances

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    Progress in trial technologies in the last 10 years has been transformative for courtroom presentations, but two core communication axioms are still relevant in today's world of drone footage evidence and 3D animations, say Adam Bloomberg and Lisa Walters at IMS Legal Strategies.

  • Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?

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    A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Nuclear Power Can Help Industrial Plants Get To Net-Zero

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    In the race to fight climate change and achieve net-zero emissions, the industrial sector currently faces immense challenges — but the integration of nuclear energy is a promising solution, so companies should consider the financial and regulatory issues, opportunities, and risk-mitigating factors, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 6 Factors That Can Make For A 'Nuclear' Juror

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    Drawing from recent research that examines the rise in nuclear verdicts, Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies identifies a few juror characteristics most likely to matter in assessing case risk and preparing for jury selection — some of which are long-known, and others that are emerging post-pandemic.

  • Series

    Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.

  • Class Action Law Makes An LLC A 'Jurisdictional Platypus'

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    The applicability of Section 1332(d)(10) of the Class Action Fairness Act is still widely misunderstood — and given the ambiguous nature of limited liability companies, the law will likely continue to confound courts and litigants — so parties should be prepared for a range of outcomes, says Andrew Gunem at Strauss Borrelli.

  • 3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture

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    Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.

  • Rebuttal

    Cancer Research Org. Is Right To Avoid Corporate Influence

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    While a previous Law360 guest article criticizes the International Agency for Research on Cancer's processes, its reliance on peer-reviewed literature is proper and its refusal to allow corporate influence is sound science, say Lance Oliver and Ridge Mazingo at Motley Rice.

  • Attorneys Can Benefit From Reverse-Engineering Their Cases

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    Trial advocacy programs often teach lawyers to loosely track the progression of a lawsuit during preparation — case analysis, then direct examination, then cross-examination, openings and closings — but reverse-engineering cases by working backward from opening and closing statements can streamline the process and also improve case strategy, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • How Courts' Differing Views On Standing Affect PFAS Claims

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    Two recent opinions from New York federal courts — in Lurenz v. Coca-Cola, and Winans v. Ornua Foods North America — illustrate how pivotal the differing views on standing held by different courts will be for product liability litigation involving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, particularly consumer claims, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

  • New State Carbon Capture Laws: Key Points For Developers

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    Multiple states have introduced or expanded legal frameworks for carbon capture and sequestration this year, and while there are some common themes, many of these state laws include unique approaches and requirements — which developers and investors should be aware of when considering potential projects and investment risks, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents

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    Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.

  • New NHTSA Fuel Economy Rule Adds Compliance Complexity

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    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's recently announced final rule on new corporate average fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks will create challenges for manufacturers, which must also comply with the EPA's multipollutant rule and California's zero-emission vehicle programs, say Joanne Rotondi and Hannah Graae at Hogan Lovells.

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