Environmental

  • May 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Denies Tribes, Enviro Groups' Power Line Stay Bid

    The Ninth Circuit has denied an emergency request by two Native American tribes and a couple of conservation groups to stay an Arizona federal judge's order that allows work to continue on a $10 billion power line.

  • May 14, 2024

    Calif. City Sues Dow, Shell Over TCP-Tainted Water

    Dow Chemical and Shell USA are facing a negligence suit in California federal court by the city of Pomona, alleging the companies are responsible for manufacturing commercial products containing the toxic 1,2,3-trichloropropane that has migrated into the city's water supply and seeking to recoup costs over response efforts.

  • May 14, 2024

    Wash. Biz Groups Say EPA Water Regs Impossible To Follow

    Washington state industry groups are urging a D.C. federal judge to strike down the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's water quality standards for the state, claiming the federal agency based its calculations on historic tribal fish consumption rates and landed on pollution limits "so stringent that compliance cannot even be measured, much less achieved."

  • May 14, 2024

    Texas Think Tank Tells 5th Circ. It's Owed Climate Pledge Info

    The Texas Public Policy Foundation told the Fifth Circuit that it should be allowed access to the names of federal officials involved in creating the Biden administration's climate pledge, arguing the federal government cannot rely on a disclosure exemption designed to protect personal privacy to withhold such information.

  • May 14, 2024

    Tesla Sued By Enviro Group Over Air Pollution At Calif. Plant

    An environmental justice organization filed a citizen action against Tesla on Monday in California federal court alleging that the electric-car maker's plant in Northern California has spewed dangerous pollutants into the air for years and has failed to take sufficient precautions to prevent the emissions.

  • May 14, 2024

    Ga. Appeals Court Weighs Validity Of 190-Year-Old Land Grant

    A company seeking to "restore and conserve" approximately 1,000 acres of coastal marshland told Georgia Court of Appeals on Tuesday that the state is attempting to renege on a 190-year-old property grant and take back the land simply because it may soon be worth more than $100 million.

  • May 14, 2024

    Tort Report: Mass Tort Settlements Beset By Crooked Claims

    Fraud attempts during the settlement claims process for class actions and mass torts highlighted by a new report and an $82 million verdict in a drunk driving crash suit lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

  • May 14, 2024

    Feds Dodge Salt Lake City's Suit Over $1B Gondola Plan

    A Utah federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the federal government from a Salt Lake City lawsuit challenging federal approvals of a $1 billion plan to address traffic congestion by building the world's longest gondola.

  • May 14, 2024

    States, Elec. Co-Op Seek To Block EPA Power Plant GHG Rule

    A group of 25 red states and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association asked the D.C. Circuit to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from implementing its new power plant greenhouse gas emissions rule while they challenge its legality.

  • May 14, 2024

    DC Circ. Upholds EPA's Renewable Fuel Standards

    A divided D.C. Circuit panel upheld on Tuesday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuel standards for 2020, 2021 and 2022, rejecting renewable fuel producers' claims the standards are too low, and petroleum refiners' contentions that they are too high.

  • May 14, 2024

    Plant Gas Emissions Suit Tossed For Lack Of Injury Standing

    A West Virginia federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action alleging a plant operated by Union Carbide Corp. and Covestro LLC emitted carcinogenic gas and increased the likelihood of cancer in nearby residents, finding the claim of injury too speculative to support the case.

  • May 14, 2024

    Firms Escape Malpractice Suit Over Chicken Plant Pollution

    Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico LLC and Schochor Staton Goldberg and Cardea PA have escaped a malpractice suit filed in Delaware Superior Court by parents who hired the firms to pursue claims alleging contamination from a Mountaire Corp. chicken plant caused "catastrophic injuries" to their child.

  • May 14, 2024

    Carbon Capture Co.'s $1.8B SPAC Deal Sparks Chancery Suit

    Stockholders who lost big after a blank-check company took carbon-capture venture LanzaTech NZ Inc. public in a purportedly $1.8 billion reverse-merger in February 2023 have sued for damages in Delaware's Court of Chancery, alleging disclosure failures and other defects prior to closing.

  • May 14, 2024

    9th Circ. Rejects Bid For Full Rehearing In Oak Flat Dispute

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a bid by an Apache nonprofit for a full judge en banc rehearing in an effort to block a copper mining company from destroying an Indigenous religious site in central Arizona known as Oak Flat, setting up the case for a U.S. Supreme Court appeal.

  • May 14, 2024

    Biden More Than Doubles Tariffs On Chinese EVs, Solar Cells

    The U.S. will more than double tariffs on a range of Chinese goods, including electric vehicles and their batteries, steel, semiconductors and solar cells, in response to allegedly unfair trade practices and overproduction, the White House announced Monday.

  • May 13, 2024

    16 States Sue To Block Calif.'s 'Clean Fleets' Rule For Trucks

    Over a dozen U.S. states filed a constitutional challenge in California federal court Monday against a Golden State regulation requiring commercial truck operators to move to zero-emission electric-vehicle fleets, arguing it would disrupt the global supply chain, raise costs, and illegally enforce emission control standards, in violation of federal laws. 

  • May 13, 2024

    Hunting Groups Want In On Gray Wolf Protections' Lawsuit

    Several hunting groups have asked a Montana federal court to let them intervene in a gray wolf protection lawsuit brought by environmentalists against the U.S. Department of the Interior, saying they should get involved because their interests aren't adequately represented by the government.

  • May 13, 2024

    Enviro. Group Sues Feds To Stop Wash. Logging Project

    The Alliance for the Wild Rockies sued the U.S. Forest Service in Washington federal court on Monday in an effort to upend the agency's final decisions to proceed with the Sxwuytn-Kaniksu Connections Trail Project for failing to take a "hard look" at the project's impacts.

  • May 13, 2024

    Flint Judge Threatens Sanctions After Water Firm's PR Stunt

    The Michigan federal judge overseeing Flint, Michigan, water crisis cases excoriated a water engineering firm and its PR agency for apparently running a smear campaign targeting a lawyer for Flint children, saying Monday she will sanction the firm if it doesn't turn over documents about the campaign by next week. 

  • May 13, 2024

    Utah, Oil Co. Can Enter BLM Oil Lease Challenge, Judge Says

    Anschutz Exploration Corp. and Utah will get the chance to fight environmentalists' lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Land Management's decision to sell oil and gas leases on more than 200,000 acres of public land, a Utah federal judge has ruled.

  • May 13, 2024

    Schumer Urges FTC To Block Hess-Chevron Deal, Jabs Trump

    U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was "sounding the alarm" against Chevron Corp.'s planned $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp. in a post on social media platform X, urging the Federal Trade Commission to halt the deal while criticizing former President Donald Trump for a reported meeting with oil executives.

  • May 13, 2024

    EPA Wrongly Approved New Chevron Chemicals, Group Says

    A Mississippi community group has asked the D.C. Circuit to revoke the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's authorization for Chevron Corp. to produce 18 new chemicals derived from plastic waste "despite their extreme health risks."

  • May 13, 2024

    Texas Farming Couple Owe $1.9M, Tax Court Says

    An oral surgeon and his wife who raised large deer and bass for hunting and ecotourism in Texas are on the hook for nearly $1.9 million in taxes, as a U.S. Tax Court decision issued Monday found that they weren't entitled to farming deductions.

  • May 13, 2024

    Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Can't Appeal Jury Trial Denial Order

    The North Carolina federal court overseeing litigation over water contamination at the Camp Lejeune military base on Monday denied the service members' attempt to appeal an order that struck down their bid for jury trials, saying that it's not an issue that warrants appeal.

  • May 13, 2024

    FERC Powers Up Major Rewrite Of Grid Planning Policy

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday finalized a long-awaited overhaul of how major electric transmission projects are planned and paid for, with the agency's Republican commissioner claiming his Democratic colleagues are unlawfully favoring clean energy at the expense of state electricity authority.

Expert Analysis

  • Freight Forwarders And Common Carriers: Know Your Cargo

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    Freight forwarders and other nonprincipal parties involved in global cargo movement should follow the guidance in the multi-agency know-your-cargo compliance note to avoid enforcement actions should they fail to spot evasive tactics used in supply chains to circumvent U.S. sanctions and export controls, say attorneys at Venable.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Googling Prospective Jurors Is Usually A Fool's Errand

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    Though a Massachusetts federal court recently barred Google from Googling potential jurors in a patent infringement case, the company need not worry about missing evidence of bias, because internet research of jury pools usually doesn’t yield the most valuable information — voir dire and questionnaires do, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • Reducing Carbon Footprint Requires A Tricky Path For CRE

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    As real estate owners find themselves caught between rapidly evolving environmental, social and governance initiatives and complicated societal debate, they will need to carefully establish formal plans to remain both competitive and compliant, say Michael Kuhn and Mahira Khan at Jackson Walker.

  • The Corporate Disclosure Tug-Of-War's Free Speech Issues

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    The continuing conflict over corporate disclosure requirements — highlighted by a lawsuit against Missouri's anti-ESG rules — has important implications not just for investors and regulated entities but also for broader questions about the scope of the First Amendment, say Colin Pohlman, and Jane Luxton and Paul Kisslinger at Lewis Brisbois.

  • 3 Administrative Law Lessons From 5th Circ. Appliance Ruling

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    Showing that mundane details can be outcome-determinative, the Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Louisiana v. U.S. Department of Energy — that the government's repeal of rules affecting dishwashers and laundry machines is invalid — highlights the relationship between regulatory actions and statutory language, say Michael Showalter and Vyasa Babu at ArentFox Schiff.

  • A Look Into How Jurors Reach High Damages Awards

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    In the wake of several large jury awards, Richard Gabriel and Emily Shaw at Decision Analysis shed light on challenges that jurors have in deciding them, the nonevidentiary and extra-legal methods they use to do so, and new research about the themes and jury characteristics of high-damages jurors.

  • Aviation Back On Course, But Keep Seat Belts Fastened

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    While the airline industry finally returned to profitability last year for the first time since the onset of COVID-19, and is poised for historic levels of traffic in 2024, supply chain problems and economic and geopolitical uncertainty persist — so more turbulence may lie ahead, say Kevin Lewis and Bart Biggers at Sidley.

  • Preparing For A New Wave Of Litigation Under Silicosis Rules

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    After the Division of Occupational Safety and Health of California issued an emergency temporary standard to combat noncompliance with assessments of workers' exposure to particles of crystalline silica, companies that manufacture, distribute or sell silica-containing products will need aggressive case-specific discovery to navigate a new wave of litigation, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Managing Competing Priorities In Witness Preparation

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    There’s often a divide between what attorneys and witnesses want out of the deposition process, but litigation teams can use several strategies to resolve this tension and help witnesses be more comfortable with the difficult conditions of testifying, say Ava Hernández and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Reimagining Law Firm Culture To Break The Cycle Of Burnout

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    While attorney burnout remains a perennial issue in the legal profession, shifting post-pandemic expectations mean that law firms must adapt their office cultures to retain talent, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Series

    ESG Around The World: Brazil

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    Environmental, social and governance issues have increasingly translated into new legislation in Brazil since 2020, and in the wake of these recently enacted regulations, we are likely to see a growing number of legal disputes in the largest South American country related to ESG issues such as greenwashing if companies are not prepared to adequately adapt and comply, say attorneys at Mattos Filho.

  • Understanding And Working With The Millennials On Your Jury

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    Every trial attorney will be facing a greater proportion of millennials on their jury, as they now comprise the largest generation in the U.S., and winning them over requires an understanding of their views on politics, corporations and damages, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation Consulting.

  • Vagueness In Calif. Climate Law Makes Compliance Tricky

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    California's recently enacted Voluntary Carbon Market Disclosures Act requires companies making claims of carbon neutrality, or significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions, to disclose information supporting those claims — but vague and conflicting language in the statute poses multiple problems for businesses, say John Rousakis and Chris Bowman at O'Melveny.

  • Series

    Competing In Dressage Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My lifelong participation in the sport of dressage — often called ballet on horses — has proven that several skills developed through training and competition are transferable to legal work, especially the ability to harness focus, persistence and versatility when negotiating a deal, says Stephanie Coco at V&E.

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