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Environmental
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November 08, 2024
LA Waterkeeper Claims BNSF Polluted Waters For Years
BNSF Railway Co. has been discharging polluted stormwater into the waters of Los Angeles County for more than four years, the Los Angeles Waterkeeper has alleged in a new suit
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November 08, 2024
Trump's Election Swings The Energy Policy Pendulum Again
The reelection of former President Donald Trump means the energy industry faces yet another drastic shift in U.S. policy, continuing a decadelong pattern of regulatory pendulum swings. Here's a rundown of what the energy industry is in for when Trump reenters the White House.
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November 08, 2024
Invesco To Pay SEC $17.5M Over Misleading ESG Statements
Invesco Advisers Inc. agreed to pay $17.5 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that the investment adviser made misleading statements about the percentage of its assets that incorporated so-called ESG factors into investment decisions.
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November 08, 2024
Water Utility Hits PVC Pipe Makers With Price-Fixing Suit
A public water utility on Friday hit some of the nation's largest PVC pipe manufacturers with a class action accusing them of using a commodity pricing service to exchange information and illegally fix prices, claiming the companies reaped "historic profits" at the expense of public utilities.
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November 08, 2024
Monsanto Judge Pushes Sanction 'Distraction' To After Trial
A Washington state judge is pausing an order for eight of Monsanto's attorneys to personally pay a total of $20,000 for late disclosure of expert reports in a toxic tort lawsuit, saying he believes the issue will distract from the upcoming trial and the court can revisit the defense lawyers' reconsideration request after the jury returns a verdict.
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November 08, 2024
Atlanta's 'Cop City' Nears Completion, Outrunning The Courts
A series of legal challenges and a protest movement that thrust Atlanta into the international spotlight appear unlikely to halt construction of the city's controversial public safety training center known as "Cop City," which is headed for completion in the coming months.
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November 08, 2024
Ga. Judge Sets 2nd Trial Plan For Solar Farm Damages Fight
A Georgia federal judge said he's moving ahead with plans for a second jury to decide how much in damages the owner and developers of Lumpkin Solar Farm owe a neighboring property owner for harms stemming from runoff and some 1,000 cubic yards of sediment that have washed off the site.
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November 08, 2024
NYC Water Worker Alleges Retaliation For Off-Duty Pot Use
A municipal water treatment worker has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the New York City Department of Environmental Protection claiming he was wrongly punished for his legal off-duty use of cannabis and wrongly terminated for refusing to take a drug test when he was actually suffering a medical emergency.
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November 08, 2024
NH Defends Feds' White Mountain Logging Projects
The state of New Hampshire is asking a federal judge to reject a conservation group's bid to block two logging projects the U.S. Forest Service approved for the White Mountain National Forest, arguing that they will deliver needed forest and wildlife habitat improvements.
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November 08, 2024
NC Forest Service Workers Defend OT Wage Suit Win
A group of state foresters urged the North Carolina Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court order requiring they be paid overtime for work combating forest fires, saying state agencies clearly agreed to compensate them at a rate of time-and-a-half of their regular pay under a reimbursement deal with the federal government.
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November 08, 2024
ND Wants To Back Feds In Dakota Access Pipeline Row
North Dakota wants to back the federal government in a challenge by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe seeking to block a Texas-based energy company from continuing to operate the Dakota Access Pipeline, arguing a shutdown would undermine the state's interests in oil and gas regulation activity.
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November 08, 2024
Kentucky Utility Asks High Court To Stay EPA Coal Ash Rule
A Kentucky electric utility called on the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule strengthening federal regulations requiring safe management of coal ash dumped at operating and retired power plants, while it appeals the D.C. Circuit's refusal to block the rule.
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November 08, 2024
Special Master Recommends $7.8M For Flint Plaintiffs' Attys
A Special Master has recommended that attorneys representing plaintiffs in the Flint Water Crisis litigation receive $7.8 million in fees for their role in securing a $25 million settlement with Veolia North America finalized last month.
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November 08, 2024
Landowners Ink $6.5M Deal To Cap Inactive Gas Wells
A group of landowners is asking a West Virginia federal court to approve a proposed settlement that would have Diversified Energy Co. more than quadruple its commitment to plugging inactive gas wells that it obtained from EQT Corp., meaning that it will cap off at least 2,600 wells in West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Tennessee by 2035.
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November 08, 2024
White & Case Adds Life Sciences IP Atty From A&O Shearman
A veteran life sciences patent litigator has jumped from Allen Overy Shearman Sterling to White & Case LLP in New York, expanding the firm’s capabilities to represent medical and pharmaceutical industry clients in complex litigation.
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November 08, 2024
Experienced Dealmakers Lead 3 SPACs Raising $365M Total
Three special purpose acquisition companies began trading Friday after pricing initial public offerings that raised $365 million combined under guidance from four law firms, marking the latest sign that more SPACs, particularly those with prior deals under their belts, are willing to test an improving market.
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November 08, 2024
NC Furniture-Maker Demands Hurricane Helene Coverage
A North Carolina furniture manufacturing facility is blaming its insurer for wrongfully using a flood damage exclusion to avoid covering more than $75,000 of damage to its premises following 2024's Hurricane Helene.
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November 08, 2024
Gov. Union Continues Organizing Push For DOJ Attys
Attorneys in the U.S. Department of Justice's civil rights and environment divisions are stepping up their efforts to organize with the National Treasury Employees Union, the union confirmed Friday, as federal workers brace for coming changes under President-elect Donald Trump's new administration.
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November 08, 2024
Judge Will Give Solar Co. $3M Interim Lifeline In Ch. 11
A Delaware bankruptcy judge said Friday she will grant Oya Renewables, a solar energy producer with offices in Boston and Toronto, interim access to $3 million in postpetition funding on offer from its Chapter 11 stalking horse bidder once some final modifications are made.
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November 08, 2024
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen collapsed German airline Air Berlin take action against its former auditor KPMG, the associate editor at The Spectator hit with a libel claim by a mosque over the far-right riots that took place in August and British licensing authority the Performing Right Society sue Parklife Manchester and four other festival organizers. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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November 07, 2024
Plastics Industry Can't Stop Calif. AG's Pollution Subpoena
A D.C. federal judge on Wednesday denied a plastics industry group's second bid to stop California's attorney general from enforcing a subpoena in a global plastic pollution probe, saying the group again failed to establish that the court had personal jurisdiction over the Golden State's top attorney.
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November 07, 2024
W.Va. Coal Mine Held In Contempt Again Over Pollution
A West Virginia federal judge held Lexington Coal Co. in contempt for a third time on Thursday over the company's continued failure to address ionic pollution caused by its coal mining operations in Appalachia, ordering it to pay a $50,000 fine and establish a $100,000 fund to achieve compliance.
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November 07, 2024
NM Tribe Settles Land Claim Dispute With Feds
The Pueblo of Jemez and the U.S. government have settled in New Mexico federal court the tribe's claim on land within the Valles Caldera National Preserve, finally agreeing in the 12-year-old dispute that Jemez has aboriginal title to an area known as Banco Bonito.
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November 07, 2024
7th Circ. Sends Refuge Power Line Fight Back To Wis. Judge
A Seventh Circuit panel scrapped stayed preliminary injunctions that temporarily blocked a power transmission line from crossing the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, directing a Wisconsin federal judge to determine if conservation groups' request for permanent relief is warranted or even possible with the line now built.
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November 07, 2024
Apache Say 'Stakes Are Clear' In Oak Flat Land Dispute
The federal government is trying to manufacture problems by claiming that a law aimed at protecting the religious rights of minorities can't apply to later-enacted statutes, an Apache nonprofit has told the U.S. Supreme Court in its bid to save a sacred worship site in Arizona from mining destruction.
Expert Analysis
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Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.
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Series
Playing Ultimate Makes Us Better Lawyers
In addition to being fun, ultimate Frisbee has improved our legal careers by emphasizing the importance of professionalism, teamwork, perseverance, enthusiasm and vulnerability, say Arunabha Bhoumik and Adam Bernstein at Regeneron.
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Dissecting New Circuit Split Over SEC's Proxy Adviser Rule
The Sixth Circuit recently upheld the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's partial rescission of enhanced conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for proxy voting advice businesses, creating a circuit split over broader questions concerning the standard for assessing the legality of agency actions in general, say attorneys at Cahill Gordon.
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The Unfolding Potential of Green Hydrogen In Brazil
A new federal law in Brazil establishing a legal framework for hydrogen development is the country's latest step toward creating a favorable environment for green hydrogen production, but significant challenges — including high production costs, technological hurdles and a lack of infrastructure — remain, says David Andrew Taylor at Almeida Advogados.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Metadata
Several recent rulings reflect the competing considerations that arise when parties dispute the form of production for electronically stored information, underscoring that counsel must carefully consider how to produce and request reasonably usable data, say attorneys at Sidley.
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A Shift In Control Of Congress May Doom These Enviro Regs
If the election leads to a change in control of Congress, lawmakers will likely use the lookback provision of the Congressional Review Act to challenge the Biden administration's late-term regulatory efforts — including recent initiatives on air pollutant source classification, lead pipe removal and hydrofluorocarbon emissions, say attorneys at Jones Walker.
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Election Could Bring Change In Weather For Offshore Wind
Under another Trump administration, the offshore wind sector would encounter substantial headwinds, as Trump's policy track record emphasizes fossil fuel dominance and environmental rollbacks, while a Harris victory would likely further entrench the pro-renewable energy stance taken by the Biden administration, say attorneys at Jones Walker.
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Striking A Balance Between AI Use And Attorney Well-Being
As the legal industry increasingly adopts generative artificial intelligence tools to boost efficiency, leaders must note the hidden costs of increased productivity, and work to protect attorneys’ well-being while unlocking AI’s full potential, says Ed Sohn at Factor.
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Empathy In Mediation Offers A Soft Landing For Disputes
Experiencing a crash-landing on a recent flight underscored to me how much difference empathy makes in times of crisis or stress, including during mediation, says Eydith Kaufman at Alternative Resolution Centers.
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Series
Being An Artist Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My work as an artist has highlighted how using creativity and precision together — qualities that are equally essential in both art and law — not only improves outcomes, but also leads to more innovative and thoughtful work, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.
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Consider The Impact Of Election Stress On Potential Jurors
For at least the next few months, potential jurors may be working through anger and distrust stemming from the presidential election, and trial attorneys will need to assess whether those jurors are able to leave their political concerns at the door, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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How Judiciary Can Minimize AI Risks In Secondary Sources
Because courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence and other safeguards do not address the risk of hallucinations in secondary source materials, the judiciary should consider enlisting legal publishers and database hosts to protect against AI-generated inaccuracies, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl.
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Calif. Ruling Offers Hope For Mitigated Negative Declarations
In Upland Community First v. City of Upland, a California appeals court upheld a warehouse development's mitigated negative declaration over its greenhouse gas emissions thresholds — a rare victory against this type of challenge providing reassurance that such declarations can be upheld, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Jarkesy May Short-Circuit FERC Enforcement Cases
As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently suspended an enforcement proceeding under the Natural Gas Act — and the commission's customary use of administrative hearings in such proceedings could face major changes, say attorneys at Willkie.
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How Attorneys Can Break Free From Career Enmeshment
Ambitious attorneys can sometimes experience career enmeshment — when your sense of self-worth becomes unhealthily tangled up in your legal vocation — but taking the time to discover and realign with your core personal values can help you recover your identity, says Janna Koretz at Azimuth Psychological.