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Energy
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March 25, 2024
Solar Co. Downplayed Exposed Wire Issue, Investors Claim
Energy company Shoals Technologies Group Inc. has been hit with a proposed class action alleging it downplayed the cost of repairing exposed wires for customers and that investors were blindsided when the company finally revealed it would need to spend at least $60 million to fix the issue.
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March 25, 2024
Del. Justices Undo Toss Of Brookfield-TerraForm Merger Suit
Delaware's Supreme Court on Monday reversed the dismissal of a suit from former shareholders of TerraForm Power Inc. who challenged a squeeze-out merger by Brookfield Asset Management Inc., concluding a proxy statement failed to fully disclose alleged conflicts of interest involving special advisers Morgan Stanley & Co LLC and Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
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March 25, 2024
BLM Adhered To Law In Granting Oil Lease Sales, Judge Rules
A D.C. federal judge has ruled in favor of the Bureau of Land Management in litigation brought by environmental groups seeking to challenge six oil and gas leases in the western United States, saying the agency did all that it was required to under the National Environmental Policy Act when it approved the lease sales.
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March 25, 2024
EPA Takes Heat Over Latest Renewable Fuel Regs
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest renewable fuel blending requirements took a legal beating from all sides Friday, with refiners, biofuel producers and environmentalists urging the D.C. Circuit to send the agency back to the drawing board.
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March 25, 2024
High Court Won't Review Texas Oil Spill Liability Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider if a mixture of petroleum and chemicals is considered "oil" under federal oil spill law and rejected companies' attempt to revive their suit against a storage terminal operator for polluting the Houston Ship Channel.
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March 25, 2024
Ohio AG Says Pol Used Campaign Funds For Bribery Case Fees
The legal woes of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder were compounded Monday with state charges that he used campaign money to cover legal fees stemming from his blockbuster conviction in federal court over the FirstEnergy Corp. bailout scandal.
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March 25, 2024
Plaintiffs' Attys Found Not Violating Soliciting Rules In OT Suit
Current and former employees of a Pennsylvania coal company earned conditional certification and did not violate soliciting rules for a collective action accusing management of violating overtime rules by not compensating time spent attending to gear before and after shifts, a federal judge ruled.
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March 25, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, litigants battled as Truth Social went public, Carl Icahn and Tripadvisor hit a roadblock, and more shareholders wailed about "invasive" bylaws. Oil drilling and pharmaceutical mergers sparked new lawsuits, and a sewing machine trademark owner sued to end a contract.
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March 25, 2024
High Court Won't Weigh In On ND Mineral Rights Takings Suit
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to wade into a fight over oil and gas mineral rights underneath a North Dakota lake, rejecting former rights owners' argument that states' sovereign immunity does not protect them from takings claims in federal court.
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March 25, 2024
DLA Piper Taps New Co-Chair of US-Africa Practice In DC
DLA Piper has hired a new co-leader of its U.S.-Africa practice, whose experience includes 27 years working at the African Development Bank, where he helped create an African investment banking system with $3 billion in capital, the firm announced last week.
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March 22, 2024
Power Line's Refuge Crossing To Stay On Hold For Now
A Wisconsin federal judge on Friday extended an order temporarily blocking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from executing a land swap that would allow the nearly completed Cardinal-Hickory Creek high-voltage transmission line to cross part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.
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March 22, 2024
Judge Spares No Ink In Opinion Over Investors' $2.7M Deal
A New Jersey federal judge in his first year on the federal bench has issued an exhaustive order accounting why he will "likely" approve a $2.7 million settlement between investors and executives of an electric vehicle company and grant certification to the proposed class.
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March 22, 2024
Youths Ask 9th Circ. To Allow Climate Trial To Proceed
Youth plaintiffs called on the Ninth Circuit to once again reject the U.S. government's renewed attempt to block a trial that's set to proceed in Oregon federal court over government policies they claim have exacerbated climate change and imperiled their futures.
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March 22, 2024
Fired CFO Of Conn. Gas Co. Seeks $5.6M From Sale
The former chief financial officer of Hocon Gas Inc., a propane and heating oil company serving three Northeastern states, says he was fired for dubious reasons after demanding his share of distributions ahead of a planned sale of the company and its affiliates, in a $5.6 million lawsuit in Connecticut state court.
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March 22, 2024
Dril-Quip Investor Alleges Merger Will Entrench Board
A shareholder of oil drilling equipment company Dril-Quip Inc. hit its directors with a proposed class action in Delaware Chancery Court, alleging they added unreasonable provisions to the terms of its merger with Innovex Downhole Solutions Inc. to disenfranchise shareholders.
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March 22, 2024
5th Circ. Lifts SEC Climate Rule Stay After 8th Circ. Lottery Win
The Fifth Circuit on Friday lifted a temporary block on the implementation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new emissions reporting requirements, following the selection of the Eighth Circuit as the venue for consolidated proceedings of the various suits about the agency's controversial rules.
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March 22, 2024
Accused Purveyor Of Tesla Trade Secrets Poised To Get Bail
A New York federal judge on Friday agreed to let a China-based businessman out on bail under strict conditions while he faces accusations of plotting to sell trade secrets concerning battery technology that were stolen from Tesla.
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March 22, 2024
EPA Clean Cars Rule Charts Auto Industry Transformation
The Biden administration's strictest-ever regulations curbing tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks deliberately aim to re-energize a U.S. auto industry transformation toward electric vehicles in the face of lower consumer demand, an increasingly antagonistic political climate and almost certain legal challenges, experts say.
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March 22, 2024
Starboard Value Eyes Board Seats At Algonquin Power
Canadian utility company Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. on Friday said its board of directors will review director nominees submitted by activist investor Starboard Value LP, who said the company's current board has a "long history of making value-destructive decisions" and needs to be refreshed.
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March 22, 2024
Occidental Says Ex-Worker Wasn't Fired For Disability
Houston-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. says that it didn't interfere with a former employee's access to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act and didn't retaliate against him for seeking leave, telling a Texas federal court Friday that the worker's suit should be tossed because any damages he may have suffered were his own doing.
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March 22, 2024
Union Seeks Quick Win In Nuclear Plant Healthcare Row
An IBEW local is urging a Pennsylvania federal judge to grant it a quick win in its fight to send to arbitration a grievance challenging a nuclear power plant operator's healthcare benefits contributions, arguing that the dispute falls within the parameters of the union's collective bargaining agreement.
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March 22, 2024
Feds Can't Explain Away Flawed LNG Rule, DC Circ. Told
Conservation groups and a dozen-plus states are urging the D.C. Circuit to throw out a rule allowing liquefied natural gas to be transported by rail, saying the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration glossed over safety, environmental justice and climate concerns, and now asks for deference it doesn't deserve.
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March 22, 2024
IRS Opens Bonus Energy Credits To More Offshore Wind Sites
The Internal Revenue Service unveiled guidance Friday that would allow more parts of offshore wind facilities to qualify for the bonus production and investment tax credits that provide incentives for clean energy projects being built in so-called energy communities.
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March 22, 2024
Trade Court Clears Feds' Voluntary Solar Cell Duty Reduction
The U.S. Court of International Trade has cleared the U.S. Department of Commerce's decision to voluntarily reduce countervailing duties on Chinese solar cells, accepting trade officials' new method of calculating importers' ocean freight costs.
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March 22, 2024
DLA Piper Welcomes Energy Attorney To Philly Office
A transactional attorney specializing in advising clients on renewable energy and sustainability projects has moved her practice from Allen & Overy LLP to DLA Piper's Philadelphia office.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Needs Defense Amid Political Threats
Amid recent and historic challenges to the judiciary from political forces, safeguarding judicial independence and maintaining the integrity of the legal system is increasingly urgent, says Robert Peck at the Center for Constitutional Litigation.
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ESG Accountability: From Reactive To Proactive
As more standards bodies and regulators develop and release their rules for sustainability and climate disclosures, organizations have an opportunity to establish leadership and unlock opportunities by making proactive commitments to tracking and reporting on environmental, social and governance issues, says Anthony Campanelli at Deloitte.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.
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Leveraging Municipal Bonds For Green Energy Finance
The U.S.'s transition to renewable energy will require collaboration between public and private capital sources — and that means that lawyers used to working in corporate finance must understand how the municipal bond market functions differently, due to its grounding in the U.S. Constitution, says Ann Fillingham at Dykema.
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Mitigating Costs And Delays In The Energy Transition
Achieving net-zero will require constructing a massive amount of new wind, solar and energy storage infrastructure — and while cost overruns and delays are to be expected, contractors and owners can proactively address these problems in their project documents, say Christopher Ryan and Jesse Sherrett at Shearman.
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AGs' Distaste For Food Bill May Signal Other State Issues
States' recent opposition to a proposed federal law that would block them from regulating out-of-state agricultural production could affect issues beyond this narrow debate, such as the balance of state and federal regulatory power, reproductive rights post-Dobbs, and energy production and water use, say Christopher Allen and Stephen Cobb at Cozen O'Connor.
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Strategic Succession Planning At Law Firms Is Crucial
Senior partners' reluctance to retire, the rise of the nonequity partner tier and generational differences in expectations are all contributing to an increasing number of departures from BigLaw, making it imperative for firms to encourage retirement among senior ranks and provide clearer leadership pathways to junior attorneys, says Laura Leopard at Leopard Solutions.
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Why All Cos. Should Take Note Of Calif. GHG Disclosure Laws
Two recent California laws involving the disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's upcoming final rule, focus on financial services firms' so-called financed emissions, meaning vastly more companies than those directly subject to today's reporting mandates will be required to supply climate-related risk disclosures, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Calif. Climate Disclosure Bills Promise Challenges For Cos.
Two novel climate disclosure bills recently passed by the California Legislature will pose challenges for many businesses — especially private companies that are less familiar with climate-related reporting obligations — and will require investments of significant time and effort in processes, procedures and personnel, say John Rousakis and Chris Bowman at O'Melveny.
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Maximizing Law Firm Profitability In Uncertain Times
As threats of an economic downturn loom, firms can boost profits by embracing the power of bottom-line management and creating an ecosystem where strategic financial oversight and robust timekeeping practices meet evolved client relations, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.
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Audit Regulator Review Has Tips On Climate Metric Reporting
The U.K. Financial Reporting Council’s recent review of climate-related metrics and targets in listed companies’ annual reports is an extremely useful guide for issuers considering the quality of their disclosure reporting, with a number of key areas identified as central to further improvement, say lawyers at Bryan Cave.
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FLSA Ruling Highlights Time Compensability Under State Law
While the Third Circuit's August decision in Tyger v. Precision Drilling endorsed the prevailing standard among federal courts regarding time compensability under the Fair Labor Standards Act, it also serves as a reminder that state laws will often find a broader range of activities to be compensable, say Ryan Warden and Craig Long at White and Williams.
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5 DOJ Enforcement Priorities To Note From Recent Remarks
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Marshall Miller’s recent speech provided a glimpse into the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate criminal enforcement priorities — from national security concerns to mergers and acquisitions — with takeaways for companies’ compliance programs, say Joseph Jay and Jennifer Le at Sheppard Mullin.
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5th Circ. Ruling Reminds Attys That CBP Can Search Devices
The Fifth Circuit’s recent Malik v. Department of Homeland Security decision adds to the chorus of federal courts holding that border agents don’t need a warrant to search travelers’ electronic devices, so attorneys should consider certain special precautions to secure privileged information when reentering the U.S., says Jennifer Freel at Jackson Walker.
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Series
ESG Around The World: European Union
As the EU makes ESG regulation a priority, companies — both those based in the EU and others just doing business there — need to keep abreast of myriad new legislation that has either already taken effect or will in the near future, as noncompliance could result in fines, damages and director liability, say attorneys at Steptoe & Johnson.