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Environmental
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October 08, 2024
Pa. Developers Defend Efforts To Remediate Landslide Damage
A Western Pennsylvania property development company asked the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Tuesday to throw out a contempt order in connection with an agreement to provide remediation to a community it built that was devastated by a landslide, arguing it poured its personal and business funds into the project.
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October 08, 2024
Federal Regs Could Ground Airport Pollution Suit, Judge Hints
A Washington federal judge acknowledged Tuesday that federal regulations are an obstacle to Seattle residents' suit against airlines and the city's primary airport over alleged flight-path pollution, while suggesting more discovery could be needed before he can rule out their claims entirely.
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October 08, 2024
DC Judge Won't Rethink Striking Down USDA Wetland Rule
A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Tuesday refused to reconsider her decision to vacate a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule designed to stop the development of wetlands on farmland and struck down those regulations.
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October 08, 2024
Industry, Utilities Take Aim At EPA's Drinking Water PFAS Rule
Water utility associations and chemical industry players asked the D.C. Circuit to strike down the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule setting the first-ever limits for forever chemicals in the nation's drinking water.
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October 08, 2024
J&J Greenwashes '100% Plant-Based' Wipes, Suit Says
Johnson & Johnson customers hit the pharmaceutical giant with a putative false advertising class action in California federal court alleging its line of Aveeno makeup removing wipes are not 100% plant-based or environmentally friendly as the package claims.
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October 08, 2024
Honeywell To Spin Off Materials Biz Amid $9B Buying Spree
Skadden-advised Honeywell said Tuesday it will spin off its advanced materials business into an independent publicly traded company, the latest maneuver in a $25 billion strategic restructuring that the company said has included about $9 billion deployed for acquisitions in 2024.
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October 08, 2024
Manatt RE Leader Found Common Ground Without An Ego
Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP has lost a Silicon Valley real estate partner with the death of Michael Polentz, and former colleagues are praising his ability to seamlessly break down complex ideas and his achievement of great success in the legal world — and doing so without an ego.
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October 08, 2024
Contractors Tell 5th Circ. They Belong In Border Wall Suit
Border wall construction firms urged the Fifth Circuit to insert them into Texas' suit challenging the Biden administration's border wall spending plan, saying they were barred from the case even though it threatens their financial rights under their old contracts.
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October 08, 2024
EPA Sets 10-Year Target For Lead Drinking-Water Pipe Fixes
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday finalized a rule that requires all lead drinking water pipes in the country to be replaced within the next 10 years to protect the public from the "significant and irreversible" health effects tied to exposure to lead in drinking water.
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October 07, 2024
Black La. Residents Urge Overhaul On Discriminatory Land Use
A Fifth Circuit judge asked attorneys for a Louisiana parish Monday whether they believe local government officials could continue racial discrimination for "eternity" because an allegedly discriminatory land-use plan was passed a decade ago without widespread concern.
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October 07, 2024
Factory Mutual Must Fully Cover Plant Explosions, Suit Says
Petrochemicals maker Indorama Ventures accused Factory Mutual Insurance Co. in Texas federal court Monday of wrongly refusing to fully cover roughly $100 million in losses stemming from a series of major explosions in 2019 near an Indorama plant in Texas.
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October 07, 2024
Texas Tells Panel It Had Three Months To Meet EPA Standards
A Fifth Circuit panel questioned whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's determination that the Lone Star State was violating air quality standards merited review yet, asking if the state could petition before the agency meted out sanctions for the alleged violations during oral arguments Monday.
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October 07, 2024
Valero, Port Cos. To Pay $2.4M To End Bay Area Pollution Suit
Valero and three port companies will pay nearly $2.4 million to resolve a nonprofit's lawsuit accusing the defendants of illegally dumping petroleum coke into the water without proper permits, in violation of the Clean Water Act, according to a consent decree signed by a California federal judge on Monday.
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October 07, 2024
No Firm Schedule For New LNG Rule, Feds Tell DC Circ.
The Biden administration has told the D.C. Circuit that it has no "firm schedule" for revising a rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be transported by rail, information the court asked for in litigation filed by environmental groups opposed to the regulations.
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October 07, 2024
Split DC Circ. Says FERC Can Require Power Plant Upgrade
Federal energy regulators were right to require NextEra Energy to upgrade its New Hampshire nuclear power plant's circuit breaker to accommodate a new transmission line being developed by Avangrid Inc., a split D.C. Circuit panel has ruled.
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October 07, 2024
3M Facing PFAS Headwinds In Vermont, NJ And Ohio Cases
3M Co., which is facing forever chemical lawsuits across the country, is dealing with pushback from Vermont, which is fighting 3M's effort to take its state court case into federal court, and from plaintiffs in Ohio and New Jersey, who have kept their litigation out of a sprawling multidistrict litigation.
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October 07, 2024
Treasury Proposes Exempting Tribal Cos. From Income Tax
Tribal-owned businesses would not be subject to federal income tax under proposed regulations released Monday by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a move that would also allow such entities to be eligible to receive direct cash payments in lieu of clean energy tax credits.
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October 07, 2024
Stormwater Fees Not Illegal Tax, Mich. Appellate Panel Finds
Stormwater drainage charges in Ann Arbor constitute a lawful fee and not an illegal tax, the Michigan Appeals Court ruled, saying the charges did not require voter approval as demanded under the state constitution for increased local tax rates.
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October 07, 2024
11th Circ. Balks At Ex-Braves' $47M Easement Case
Former Atlanta Braves players John Smoltz and Ryan Klesko, challenging a U.S. Tax Court ruling that slashed the value of a conservation easement deduction by 90%, won't have their appeal heard by the Eleventh Circuit after the court said Monday the duo had jumped the gun on challenging the decision before it was made final.
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October 07, 2024
State Courts Splitting Over Future Of Climate Change Suits
Recent decisions on whether climate change suits brought by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies can go forward are exposing splits between state courts over whether they can impose liability for pollution that originates beyond their borders, legal experts say.
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October 07, 2024
Chevron Nets $6.5B In Sale Of Canadian Oil Assets
Chevron Canada Ltd. said Monday it has agreed to sell off its stakes in the Athabasca Oil Sands Project and the Duvernay shale to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. for $6.5 billion.
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October 07, 2024
Justices Seek SG Input On Red State Bid To End Climate Torts
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked the U.S. Solicitor General to weigh in on a request by red states to nix climate change torts brought by blue state governments against fossil fuel companies, signaling its growing interest in the future of such cases.
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October 07, 2024
Justices Won't Referee Fight Over FERC Power Rule Deadlock
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a rule change allowing the country's largest regional grid operator to stop requiring state-backed renewable energy sources to meet a certain price floor in electricity capacity auctions following a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission stalemate on its approval.
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October 04, 2024
Top 5 Supreme Court Cases To Watch This Fall
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear several cases in its October 2024 term that could further refine the new administrative law landscape, establish constitutional rights to gender-affirming care for transgender minors and affect how the federal government regulates water, air and weapons. Here, Law360 looks at five of the most important cases on the Supreme Court's docket so far.
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October 04, 2024
Arnold & Itkin's Zeta DQ Bid 'Disappointing,' Ex-Clerk Testifies
A Harris County judge began mulling Arnold & Itkin LLP's bid to disqualify Transocean's counsel from Hurricane Zeta litigation after a marathon hearing Friday that included testimony from a former Arnold & Itkin law clerk-turned-defense-lawyer who said she watched the contentious proceeding with "bitter amusement" and "disappointment."
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Supreme Court Must Halt For-Profit Climate Tort Proliferation
If the U.S. Supreme Court does not seize the opportunity presented by Honolulu v. Sunoco to reassert federal authority over interstate pollution regulation, the resulting frenzy of profit-driven environmental mass torts against energy companies will stunt American competitiveness and muddle climate policy, says Gale Norton at Liberty Energy.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Opinion
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers
A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from four recent class certification rulings involving denial of Medicare reimbursements, automobile insurance disputes, veterans' rights and automobile defects.
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6 Tips For Trying Cases Away From Home
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
A truly national litigation practice, by definition, often requires trying cases in jurisdictions across the country, which presents unique challenges that require methodical preparation and coordination both within the trial team and externally, say Edward Bennett and Suzanne Salgado at Williams & Connolly.
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A Blueprint For Structuring An Effective Plaintiff Case Story
The number and size of nuclear verdicts continue to rise, in part because plaintiffs attorneys have become more adept at crafting compelling trial stories — and an analysis of these success stories reveals a 10-part framework for structuring an effective case narrative, says Jonathan Ross at Decision Analysis.
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Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: The MDL Map
An intriguing yet unpredictable facet of multidistrict litigation practice is venue selection for new MDL proceedings, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation considers many factors when it assigns an MDL venue, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.
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Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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Reassessing Lease Provisions To Account For ESG Initiatives
As companies seek to build ESG considerations into their businesses, it's crucial to understand how such initiatives can quickly become significant enough to compel reassessment of lease agreement provisions, and how best to modify leases accordingly, say Julian Freeman and Gabe Pitassi at Cox Castle.
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Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics
Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.
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Integrating ESG Into Risk Management Programs
Amid increasing regulations and reporting requirements for corporate sustainability in the European Union and the U.S., companies might consider how to incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into more formalized risk management, say directors at Alvarez & Marsal.
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How Labeling And Testing May Help Reduce PFAS Litigation
As regulators take steps to reduce consumers’ exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals, companies can take a proactive approach to mitigating litigation risks not only by labeling their products transparently, but also by complying with testing and marketing standards, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.
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It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers
Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.