Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Environmental
-
April 16, 2025
Bard Sickened Ga. Man With Medical Gas Pollution, Jury Told
A C.R. Bard medical equipment sterilization plant secretly "poisoned" a resident of a Georgia town by emitting ethylene oxide for 50 years, a jury heard in opening statements Tuesday, while Bard told the jury it "overwhelmingly" demonstrated reasonable care with the powerful gas.
-
April 16, 2025
Pa. Poultry Farm's Slaughter Methods Deemed Trade Secrets
The Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled that an animal rights group cannot force a Lebanon County poultry farm to disclose its chicken slaughtering practices, with the court ruling that the materials sought were confidential trade secrets.
-
April 16, 2025
Judge Pauses Md. Depositions In Bridge Collapse Suit
A federal judge has paused an order forcing witnesses associated with Grace Ocean and Synergy Marine, which owned the cargo ship that struck Francis Scott Key Bridge, to be deposed in Maryland, finding it unclear whether they're employees who can't be forced to come to the United States and must be subpoenaed.
-
April 16, 2025
Interior Dept. Halts Work On East Coast Offshore Wind Farm
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said Wednesday that he has directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to immediately freeze all construction activities on the Empire Wind offshore wind energy project south of New York's Long Island.
-
April 16, 2025
Texas Energy Bills Are No Panacea For Power Projects
Energy bills advancing through the Texas Legislature aim to get more electricity on the grid to satisfy escalating demand, but the possibility of new restrictions on renewable energy development has attorneys questioning whether companies will actually build what's needed.
-
April 16, 2025
Texas Oil Co., Exec Admit Negligence In Toxic Gas Deaths
A Texas oilfield company executive has been sentenced to five months in prison, while his company was put on two years of probation and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution after pleading guilty in a case stemming from the deaths of an employee and his wife from exposure to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas in 2019.
-
April 16, 2025
Feds Float Reducing Endangered Species Habitat Protections
The Trump administration on Wednesday said it plans to eliminate a long-standing regulatory provision that prohibits the destruction of endangered species habitat by project developers.
-
April 16, 2025
IBM Sues Insurers Over $900M In Environmental Expenses
IBM has taken several of its excess commercial general liability insurers to New York federal court, arguing that following IBM's coverage settlements with underlying insurers, they are now on the hook for over $900 million in environmental remediation expenses incurred under policies issued between 1961 and 1970.
-
April 16, 2025
Interior Transfers 110,000 Acres To Army For Border Security
The U.S. Department of the Interior is transferring 110,000 acres of federal land along the southern border to the U.S. Army to support Border Patrol as part of a sweeping effort by the Trump administration to crack down on illegal immigration.
-
April 16, 2025
Texas Oil Cos. Seek Pass-Through Pollution Claims Coverage
Oil and gas companies told a Texas federal court on Wednesday that their insurer must pay to defend them against pass-through claims in connection with underlying pollution lawsuits thanks to a purchase and sale agreement they entered into with another company.
-
April 16, 2025
Union Denied More Time In Feds' Bid To Bless CBA Rebuke
A Kentucky federal judge has refused to delay an approaching hearing on the U.S. Department of the Treasury's bid to nullify its workers' union contracts, despite a union's assertion that it's been given little time to prepare for a consequential case and that it has yet to be served.
-
April 16, 2025
Groups Urge Congress To Probe DC's Use Of Private Attys
The American Tort Reform Association and two other groups called on Congress on Wednesday to investigate District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb for the office's use of outside counsel for litigation, which they say has issued millions in legal contracts with little transparency or accountability.
-
April 16, 2025
Mexico's Vista Buys Stake In Argentine Oil Project For $1.5B
Mexico-based oil and gas company Vista Energy said Wednesday it has acquired a 50% stake in La Amarga Chica, a large shale oil project in the Neuquina Basin of Argentina's vast Vaca Muerta shale formation, for about $1.5 billion.
-
April 16, 2025
Judge Restores EPA Grant Funds For Climate Change Groups
A D.C. federal judge has ordered Citibank NA to start disbursing Biden-era federal grant funding to nonprofits working on climate change projects, and blocked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's effort to terminate the grants.
-
April 16, 2025
Global Clean Energy Files Ch. 11 With Over $2B In Debt
Renewable fuels company Global Clean Energy Holdings Inc. filed for Chapter 11 relief Wednesday in Texas with more than $2 billion of liabilities, about $2 million of cash on hand and a prearranged restructuring plan supported by most of its secured lenders.
-
April 15, 2025
Judge Tells Feds To Unfreeze Climate, Infrastructure Funds
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies must "turn the funding spigots back on" while environmental groups challenge the Trump administration's decision to cut congressionally approved dollars for infrastructure, agriculture, climate and other initiatives, a Rhode Island federal judge ruled Tuesday.
-
April 15, 2025
New Mexico Pueblos Allowed Into Fed Mineral Lease Ban Suit
A pair of Native American pueblos can intervene in a Navajo Nation suit seeking to undo a Biden administration order withdrawing federal land from new mineral leasing around Chaco Canyon, a federal magistrate judge ruled Tuesday.
-
April 15, 2025
Trump Orders Overhaul Of Federal Contracting Rules
President Donald Trump issued orders Tuesday aimed at simplifying and reducing the costs of federal contracting for both government and contractors, directing agencies to pare back the Federal Acquisition Regulation to only "essential" requirements and to prioritize commercial item purchases.
-
April 15, 2025
No Appeal For Green Energy Co. CEO In $40M Investor Suit
The CEO of a company purportedly funded by a green energy outfit can't appeal a judge's determination in a proposed investor class action that found the executive is subject to the Tennessee federal court's jurisdiction, saying he failed to meet the requirements for such an appeal.
-
April 15, 2025
Apple Challenges PFAS Claims In Watch Band Lawsuit
Apple has urged a California federal judge to toss a proposed class action claiming its smartwatch bands contain toxic chemicals, arguing the suit relies on speculative "barebones" testing data and fails to show its products actually contain harmful substances.
-
April 15, 2025
DC Circ. Again Nixes Challenge To $44B Alaska LNG Project
The D.C. Circuit rejected a challenge by conservation groups against the U.S. Department of Energy's reapproval of a $44 billion liquefied natural gas project in Alaska, ruling Tuesday the department's conclusion regarding uncertainty over the project's effects on greenhouse gases was supported by "overwhelming evidence" in its environmental impact statements.
-
April 15, 2025
Massive Calif. Fire Assessment Pass-Through Sparks Suit
Public interest nonprofit Consumer Watchdog sued California's insurance chief in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday to stop him from allowing insurance companies to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in assessment costs as surcharges onto policyholders, claiming the decision was made without any public input, in violation of the state's Administrative Procedure Act.
-
April 15, 2025
Dow Says NJ Pollution Suit 'Classic' Case For Federal Court
Dow Chemical Co. told a Third Circuit panel on Tuesday that the New Jersey attorney general's suit accusing it and other companies of causing widespread groundwater pollution through a product containing a likely cancer-causing compound belongs in federal court, arguing the product was developed for the federal government.
-
April 15, 2025
Court Abused Discretion In Tesoro Pipeline Row, 8th Circ. Told
Enrolled members of a North Dakota tribe say a lower court abused its discretion in denying them intervention in a lawsuit challenging the federal government's right-of-way trespassing claims against the Tesoro High Plains Pipeline, arguing it failed to consider the full scope of their interests and rights at stake.
-
April 15, 2025
Kinder Morgan Must Face $100M Texas Storm Billing Dispute
A Texas state appeals court said Tuesday that Kinder Morgan must face a suit over $100 million in invoices stemming from a February 2021 winter storm that caused a power crisis in the state, finding that the company hadn't shown it was forced to reduce gas supplied to a customer at the height of the storm.
Expert Analysis
-
A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process
The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.
-
How Latin American Finance Markets May Shift Under Trump
Changes in the federal government are bringing profound implications for Latin American financial institutions and cross-border financing, including increased competition from U.S. banks, volatility in equity markets and stable green investor demand despite deregulation in the U.S., says David Contreiras Tyler at Womble Bond.
-
Series
Improv Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Improv keeps me grounded and connected to what matters most, including in my legal career where it has helped me to maintain a balance between being analytical, precise and professional, and creative, authentic and open-minded, says Justine Gottshall at InfoLawGroup.
-
How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms
Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
-
Opinion
Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital
Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.
-
How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition
Professionals seeking to transition to nonattorney careers may encounter skepticism as nontraditional candidates, but there are opportunities for thought leadership and to leverage speaking and writing to accelerate a post-attorney career transition, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Evgeny Efremkin at Toronto Metropolitan University.
-
Key Takeaways From The 2025 Spring Antitrust Meeting
Leadership changes, shifting priorities and evolving enforcement tools dominated the conversation at the recent American Bar Association Spring Antitrust Meeting, as panelists explored competition policy under a second Trump administration, agency discretion under the 2023 merger guidelines and new frontiers in conduct enforcement, say attorneys at Freshfields.
-
What PFAS-Treated Clothing Tariff Bill Would Mean For Cos.
In keeping with a nationwide trend of greater restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives would remove tariff advantages for PFAS-treated clothing — so businesses would be wise to proactively adapt their supply chains and review contracts to mitigate liability, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
-
Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Be An Indispensable Associate
While law school teaches you to research, write and think critically, it often overlooks the professional skills you will need to make yourself an essential team player when transitioning from a summer to full-time associate, say attorneys at Stinson.
-
What 2nd Trump Admin Means For Ship Pollution Compliance
As the second Trump administration's civil and criminal enforcement policies take shape, the maritime industry must ensure it complies with both national and international obligations to prevent oil pollution from seagoing vessels — with preventive efforts and voluntary disclosures being some of the best options for mitigating risk, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
-
Mass. AG Emerges As Key Player In Consumer Protection
Through enforcement actions and collaborations with other states — including joining a recent amicus brief decrying the defunding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell has established herself as a thought leader for consumer protection and corporate accountability, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
-
Series
Birding Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Observing and documenting birds in their natural habitats fosters patience, sharpens observational skills and provides moments of pure wonder — qualities that foster personal growth and enrich my legal career, says Allison Raley at Arnall Golden.
-
What Cos. Should Know About U.S. Minerals Executive Order
President Donald Trump's new executive order aimed at boosting U.S. mineral production faces challenges including land use and environmental regulations, a lack of new funding, and the need for coordination among federal agencies, but it provides industry stakeholders with multiple opportunities to influence policy and funding, say advisers at Holland & Knight.
-
Series
Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1
Among the most notable developments in California banking in the first quarter of the year, regulators and legislators issued regulations interpreting debt collection laws, stepped up enforcement actions, and expanded consumer protections for those affected by wildfires, says Stephen Britt at Severson & Werson.
-
How The ESG Investing Rule Survived Loper Bright, For Now
A Texas federal court's recent decision in Utah v. Micone upholding the U.S. Department of Labor's 2022 ESG investing rule highlights how regulations can withstand the post-Loper Bright landscape when an agency's interpretation of its statutorily determined boundaries is not granted deference, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.