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Energy
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April 16, 2024
Atty Fights $268K Sanction Over Fake Newspaper Filing
A Seattle attorney ordered to pay $268,000 after being accused of filing a fake newspaper called the "The Saudi Sun" as a court exhibit wants the Ninth Circuit to overturn the sanction, arguing that it resulted from judicial misconduct and corruption.
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April 16, 2024
Magnesium Capital Clinches €135M Inaugural Fund
Energy-transition private equity-buyout firm Magnesium Capital, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, on Tuesday announced it had closed its inaugural fund above target after raising €135 million ($143.4 million).
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April 16, 2024
W&T Offshore Accuses Pipeline Co. Of $3M Per Month Losses
A Gulf of Mexico oil producer claims it is losing millions of dollars a month from regulators' forced shut-in of a pipeline network it depends on in a lawsuit filed in Texas federal court alleging the pipeline company violated their contract to follow U.S. law and keep the line operating.
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April 16, 2024
Activist Axes $3.6B SilverBow Merger Plan Amid Proxy Fight
New York-based asset manager Kimmeridge said Tuesday it has scrapped its March offer to create a $3.6 billion Eagle Ford shale operator by combining the assets of Kimmeridge Texas Gas with those of shale driller SilverBow Resources, stating it will now focus on getting its three nominees elected to SilverBow's board.
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April 16, 2024
DOL Finalizes Rule To Curb Miners' Exposure To Silica Dust
A U.S. Department of Labor agency released final regulations Tuesday that tighten limits on miners' exposure to workplace silica dust, a toxic substance that increases the risk of death and chronic health conditions.
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April 15, 2024
Structured Deposits Recalled In Ex-Ecuadorian Official's Trial
A bookkeeper testified Monday in Miami federal court that he conducted a series of structured deposits and other suspicious transactions while working at a tile company owned by the son of Ecuador's former comptroller general, who's accused of laundering millions of dollars in bribes from Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht SA.
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April 15, 2024
Ocean Agency Requires Cos. To Cover Well Razing Costs
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management on Monday unveiled a final rule aimed at ensuring oil and gas companies, and not taxpayers, are the ones footing the bill for decommissioning offshore wells and infrastructure.
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April 15, 2024
Justices Leave Lower Courts To Parse Corporate 'Half-Truths'
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that corporate silence isn't enough to form the basis of a securities fraud suit pointedly declined to wade into the question of what counts as a "half-truth," leaving it to lower courts to wrestle with which corporate statements are blurry enough to sustain a shareholder class action.
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April 15, 2024
Coal Exec's Widow Seeks Atty Fees After Toss Of $6.5B Suit
The widow of a bankrupt coal company's former president requested $525,000 in attorney fees and costs Monday after a D.C. federal judge tossed a suit alleging her husband's estate and another business owed a union pension plan $6.5 billion, saying the plan's trustees can afford to pay.
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April 15, 2024
Exxon Seeks $1.8B Tax Refund As Qatar Deal Trial Opens
Exxon Mobil Corp. argued Monday in Texas federal court that its deal with Qatar to extract natural gas from the country's coast was a partnership, rather than a lease agreement, saying at the start of a trial that it's entitled to get $1.8 billion in tax benefits back from the IRS.
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April 15, 2024
Solar Power Co. Accuses Ex-Insider Of Building, Selling Rival
Delaware-chartered solar energy venture Volt Energy Utility LLC has sued a former top officer in Chancery Court, alleging that while employed by Volt, she secretly launched a competing company, contacted Volt's lenders and customers and then sold the new business to a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. for $216 million.
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April 15, 2024
NH Power Plant Co. Can Send Dual-Path Ch. 11 Plan To A Vote
The operator of a New Hampshire power plant fueled by scrap wood can seek creditors' approval of its Chapter 11 proposal, through which the debtor would either sell its assets or hand ownership of the reorganized business to lenders, a Delaware bankruptcy judge ruled Monday.
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April 15, 2024
Power Seller Presses 5th Circ. To Uphold $25M Contract Win
An electricity seller on Friday told the Fifth Circuit that a lower court got it right when it awarded more than $25 million in a contract fight with a power trader over electricity price-hedging deals that sustained heavy losses during 2021's Winter Storm Uri.
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April 15, 2024
UK Trading Platform Marex Eyes US Markets For $300M IPO
Private equity-backed U.K. trading platform Marex Group PLC launched plans Monday for an estimated $300 million initial public offering, represented by Latham & Watkins LLP and underwriters' counsel Kirkland & Ellis LLP, becoming the latest U.K.-area firm to seek capital from U.S. markets.
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April 15, 2024
Watson Farley Hires 2 Singapore Partners From McDermott
Watson Farley & Williams LLP has tapped two energy lawyers from McDermott Will & Emery LLP to serve as partners in the global law firm's Singapore office, saying they bring broad expertise in advising a range of Asia-Pacific clients on project development in power and renewables.
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April 15, 2024
4th Circ. Upholds W.Va.'s Win In Coal Mine Cleanup Suit
The Fourth Circuit on Monday affirmed a West Virginia federal court's order ending developers' allegations that the state's environmental regulators' reclamation efforts at an old coal mining site constituted illegal dumping, finding the lower court correctly concluded the efforts are exempt from regulations prohibiting open dumps.
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April 15, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week, Delaware justices mulled whether one Chancery Court vice chancellor properly voided four company bylaws — just as another vice chancellor voided one more. Fights among Truth Social investors continued, and shareholders launched new cases involving Macy's, United Airlines, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC and Stone Point Capital LLC.
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April 15, 2024
Naftogaz Urges Court To Uphold $5B Award Against Russia
Ukraine's state-owned oil company has hit back at Russia's bid in D.C. federal court to toss its attempt to enforce a $5 billion arbitral award it won after its Crimean assets were seized following Russia's annexation of the peninsula, saying the court has jurisdiction over the case.
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April 15, 2024
Republican AGs Ask 5th Circ. To Knock Out DOL Rule For ESG
A group of Republican-led states have urged the Fifth Circuit to scrap a U.S. Department of Labor rule allowing retirement advisers to consider social and political issues when choosing investments, arguing that the agency is flouting protections set in stone by federal benefits law.
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April 15, 2024
2nd Circ. Affirms Telecom Co.'s $13M Union Pension Bill
The Second Circuit upheld a New York federal court's determination that a telecommunications company owed $13 million in withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension plan for electrical and contract workers, agreeing Monday with an arbitrator's finding that a construction industry exception didn't apply to the disputed work.
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April 15, 2024
EQT To Swap $500M Of Gas Assets As Part Of Divestiture Plan
EQT Corp. and Equinor said Monday that they have agreed to an asset swap arrangement that will include Equinor paying $500 million in cash for a minority stake in EQT's nonoperated natural gas assets in Northeast Pennsylvania, part of a broader EQT strategy to divest assets and reduce debt ahead of its planned close of an energy mega-deal.
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April 15, 2024
Simpson Thacher Corporate Pro Rejoins Weil In Houston
Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP announced Monday that it has welcomed back an infrastructure lawyer who has rejoined the firm in Houston after six years with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.
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April 15, 2024
EPA Won't Cut Stationary Combustion Turbines From CAA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday rejected a petition filed by energy industry groups looking to remove stationary combustion turbines from the list of sources subject to regulation for emissions of air toxics.
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April 15, 2024
Italian Cable Giant Prysmian Buying Encore Wire For $4.2B
Milan-based electric cabling manufacturer Prysmian said Monday it has agreed to purchase McKinney, Texas-based Encore Wire in a transaction with an approximately $4.2 billion enterprise value.
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April 12, 2024
Split PTAB Panel Upholds QinetiQ Fracking Patent
A British defense contractor successfully fought off a legal challenge surrounding its patent covering a fracking device, in a ruling from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that was split three ways over the matter.
Expert Analysis
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Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?
Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.
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The 5 Most Important Bid Protest Decisions Of 2023
Attorneys at Bradley Arant discuss noteworthy 2023 bid protest decisions from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and U.S. Government Accountability Office, offering perspectives on standing, document production, agency deference, System for Award Management registration requirements and mentor-protégé joint venture proposal evaluations.
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7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond
The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.
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Securities Class Actions Show No Signs of Slowing In 2024
Plaintiffs asserted securities class actions at elevated levels in 2023 — a sign that filings will remain high in the year ahead — as they switched gears to target companies that allegedly have failed to anticipate supply chain disruptions, persistent inflation, rising interest rates and other macroeconomic headwinds, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Consider A Key Insurance Tool For Environmental M&A Deals
Transactional liability insurance can be a useful risk allocation tool for completing mergers and acquisitions in the renewable energy and climate and clean technology sectors, though policies must be structured carefully to achieve maximum coverage, say Joseph Castelluccio and Paul de Bernier at Mayer Brown.
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ESG Concerns Can No Longer Be Ignored In 2024
While the long wait for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ESG rule continues, government attention to regulations, increased litigation efforts and shareholder resolutions seeking transparency highlight the importance of placing an emphasis on ESG considerations, say attorneys at Wollmuth Maher.
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2 FCPA Settlements Illuminate Self-Disclosure, Disgorgement
Two of last year’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act settlements — with biomedical company Lifecore and mining company Corsa Coal — suggest that the government will be much more flexible in negotiating disgorgement amounts if an entity voluntarily self-discloses misconduct, say Michael Gilbert and Lucas Amodio at Sheppard Mullin.
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How DOI Aims To Modernize Resource Damage Assessments
The U.S. Department of the Interior's recent proposal to redesign its Type A rule for conducting natural resource damage assessment and restoration activities could lead to a more streamlined, flexible assessment process that would benefit both natural resource trustees and potentially responsible parties, says Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley at Nossaman.
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5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024
Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.
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5 Securities Litigation Issues To Watch In 2024
There is yet another exciting year ahead for securities litigation, starting with the U.S. Supreme Court hearing argument next week in a case presenting a key securities class action question that has eluded review for the last eight years, say attorneys at Willkie.
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Growing Green Tech Demand Spells Trouble For Groundwater
Increasing demand for green technology is depleting the groundwater reserves used to extract and process the necessary minerals, making a fundamental shift toward more sustainable water use practices necessary at both the state and federal levels, says Sarah Mangelsdorf at Goldberg Segalla.
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Series
ESG Around The World: South Africa
While South Africa has yet to mandate the reporting of nonfinancial and environmental, social, and corporate governance issues, policy documents and recent legislative developments are likely to have a material impact in the country's transition to a low-carbon economy and in meeting its international obligations, say Glynn Kent at Eversheds Sutherland.
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3 Power Rulings Change Outlook For Transmission Cos.
The cumulative effect of three December power cases that halted state actions that gave preference to incumbent transmission providers could level the playing field for independent developers, say Harvey Reiter and John McCaffrey at Stinson.
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4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year
As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.
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Bribery Settlement Gives Insight On DOJ Policies
Chemical company Albemarle’s recent $218 million settlement with the government to resolve foreign bribery claims provides valuable data points for companies on the U.S. Department of Justice’s voluntary self-disclosure policy and its clawback pilot program, say Michael DeBernardis and Tiauna Mathieu at Hughes Hubbard.