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Environmental
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October 31, 2024
IFC Projects Must Do More On Emissions, Report Says
An accountability arm of the International Finance Corp. is encouraging it to bolster its methods to identify and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from financed projects, saying its current approaches are not fully up to date and limit its effectiveness in addressing global warming.
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October 31, 2024
Firms Fight Bid To Revive Malpractice Suit Over Liability Case
Two firms are asking the Delaware Supreme Court to affirm the dismissal of a malpractice suit filed by parents over damages sought for their child's "catastrophic injuries," allegedly caused by contamination from a chicken plant.
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October 30, 2024
'Vague' Witness Sinks Green Materials Co. Investor Suit
A California federal judge dismissed an investor suit Tuesday filed against a maker of sustainable materials alleging it failed to disclose a change in direction in its manufacturing plans and a delay in building a new plant, saying the suit relies heavily on statements of a confidential witness that are "fatally vague."
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October 30, 2024
Calif. Panel Axes $10.6M Abex Asbestos Verdict
A California appellate panel has thrown out a $10.6 million asbestos verdict against Pneumo Abex LLC and ordered a new trial, finding that the trial court erred in granting a directed verdict that rejected the now-bankrupt braking lining manufacturer's sophisticated user defense.
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October 30, 2024
No Ruling On Zeta DQ Bid After Second Marathon Hearing
A Houston judge declined Wednesday to decide whether to disqualify Transocean's counsel from Hurricane Zeta litigation following the second hearing on a former Arnold & Itkin LLP law clerk-turned-defense-lawyer's work with the plaintiffs' firm, indicating she needed time to figure out when the parties reasonably should have learned of the potential conflict of interest.
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October 30, 2024
DOI Invests $46M In Klamath Basin Restoration
The U.S. Department of the Interior on Wednesday unveiled nearly $46 million in investments from the bipartisan infrastructure law for ecosystem restoration activities in the drought-prone Klamath River Basin of Southern Oregon and Northern California.
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October 30, 2024
Ax Green Groups' Suit Over 'Resiliency' Definition, FEMA Says
The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked a D.C. federal judge on Wednesday to throw out a lawsuit brought by environmental advocacy and consumer groups alleging the agency missed its deadline to define "resilient."
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October 30, 2024
Ariz. Tribe Will Get Back 3,200 Acres In US Land Exchange
The Yavapai-Apache Nation will receive 3,200 acres of its ancestral homelands in exchange for six parcels of land located within four national forests in Arizona as part of an agreement with the U.S. National Forest Service and Department of Agriculture that has been decades in the making.
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October 30, 2024
Brookfield Scoops UK Wind Farms Assets In $2.3B Deal
Brookfield has agreed to buy a minority stake in four of Danish multinational energy company Orsted's operational U.K. offshore wind farms in a deal valued at £1.745 billion ($2.27 billion), Orsted announced Wednesday.
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October 30, 2024
Landscape Workers Can Be 3 Classes In OT Suit
U.S. citizens and H-2B landscape workers who claimed that a company cheated them out of overtime pay can keep their collective status while also proceeding in three separate classes, a Kansas federal judge ruled.
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October 30, 2024
Maryland Says Electricity Greenwashing Law Is Constitutional
Renewable energy company Green Mountain Energy Co. and a national advocacy organization cannot block a Maryland law aimed at cracking down on electricity suppliers' "greenwashing" claims, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown argued in federal court.
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October 30, 2024
Holtec Wins $6.9M Over Gov't's Failure To Store Nuclear Fuel
Nuclear plant operator Holtec Palisades LLC has been granted $6.9 million in damages after a U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge found the federal government had breached an agreement to store spent nuclear fuel at the company's Michigan facility.
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October 30, 2024
Class Members Can't Change Opt-Out Rules In Chevy EV Deal
A Michigan federal judge won't grant a bid by individual class members to change the opt-out procedure in a $150 million settlement to resolve claims that General Motors sold Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles with defective batteries, calling the motion an improper late objection to the settlement's preliminary approval.
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October 30, 2024
AI-Focused SPAC Joins Pipeline With $200M IPO Filing
Archimedes Tech SPAC Partners II Co., a special purpose acquisition company targeting the artificial intelligence industry, filed plans on Wednesday for an estimated $200 million initial public offering, while another SPAC, energy-transition focused Tavia Acquisition Corp., downsized plans.
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October 30, 2024
Green Groups Urge EPA To Address 'Big Ag' Nitrate Pollution
More than 20 environmental and community groups have called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use its emergency powers under the Safe Drinking Water Act to address industrial agriculture's nitrate contamination of drinking water in communities across the country.
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October 30, 2024
Gov't Contracts Of The Month: Uranium And Missile Detection
Over the past month, the Biden administration advanced plans to secure the nuclear energy supply chain with $3.5 billion worth of uranium enrichment contracts and added $1.8 billion to its next-generation missile detection program. Here are Law360's most note-worthy government contracts for October 2024.
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October 30, 2024
Hershey's Candy Wrappers Contain PFAS, Spooky Suit Says
A chocolate lover has sued The Hershey Co. in Pennsylvania federal court just days before Halloween alleging the packaging of its milk chocolate bars and Kisses, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Reece's Pieces and KitKat Bars contain dangerous "forever chemicals."
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October 30, 2024
Connecticut Water Users Amend Utility PFAS Class Action
A proposed class of Connecticut consumers filed an amended complaint for a suit alleging a water utility knowingly sold water containing unhealthy levels of "forever chemicals" without installing treatment equipment that could have prevented the contamination from reaching people.
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October 30, 2024
MVP: Napoli Shkolnik's Paul Napoli
Paul Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik LLP secured four massive settlements with 3M, Tyco Fire Products, DuPont de Nemours and BASF Corp. ranging from $316.5 million to $12.5 billion on behalf of public water systems impacted by "forever chemical" contamination, earning him a spot as one of the 2024 Law360 Environmental MVPs.
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October 30, 2024
Cleveland-Cliffs Gets Final Approval For $2.5B Stelco Deal
Ohio steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. said Wednesday it has received the Canadian regulatory approvals needed to complete its planned $2.5 billion acquisition of Canada's Stelco Holdings Inc., slating the deal close for Friday.
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October 30, 2024
Judge Says Attys Asking For Too Much In Hess Wage Deal
A New York federal judge refused to sign off on a $36,000 deal that would resolve a former oil field worker's suit alleging Hess Corp. failed to pay him overtime, saying the worker's attorneys are requesting too large of a share.
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October 30, 2024
KKR, ECP To Plug $50B Into Data Centers, Power Projects
Private equity firms KKR & Co., advised by Simpson Thacher, and Energy Capital Partners have teamed up to inject $50 billion into building data centers and energy generation projects in a bet on meeting rising demand for infrastructure to support the artificial intelligence boom.
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October 29, 2024
Mining Co. Must Hand Over Docs To Tribe In Minn. Land Row
A Minnesota federal magistrate judge has determined that the vast majority of documents that a Native American tribe is seeking from a mining company in a land exchange dispute must be turned over to the tribe, ruling that discovery sought prior to 2016 is relevant to the case.
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October 29, 2024
Williams Cos. Applies To FERC For Transco Expansion
A Williams Cos. Inc. unit on Monday submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to expand the Transco natural gas pipeline's capacity in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama — a proposal over which two environmental groups quickly expressed concern.
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October 29, 2024
Texas Gov., Oil Groups Urge DC Circ. To Revive LNG Projects
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, the American Petroleum Institute, the Lipan Apache Tribe and others are lining up behind liquefied natural gas project backers asking the full D.C. Circuit to review a panel's decision to nix Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approvals for LNG projects on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Expert Analysis
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Using Primacy And Recency Effects In Opening Statements
By understanding and strategically employing the primacy and recency effects in opening statements, attorneys can significantly enhance their persuasive impact, ensuring that their narrative is both compelling and memorable from the outset, says Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.
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Opinion
Supreme Court Must Halt For-Profit Climate Tort Proliferation
If the U.S. Supreme Court does not seize the opportunity presented by Honolulu v. Sunoco to reassert federal authority over interstate pollution regulation, the resulting frenzy of profit-driven environmental mass torts against energy companies will stunt American competitiveness and muddle climate policy, says Gale Norton at Liberty Energy.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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Opinion
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers
A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.
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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons
In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from four recent class certification rulings involving denial of Medicare reimbursements, automobile insurance disputes, veterans' rights and automobile defects.
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6 Tips For Trying Cases Away From Home
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
A truly national litigation practice, by definition, often requires trying cases in jurisdictions across the country, which presents unique challenges that require methodical preparation and coordination both within the trial team and externally, say Edward Bennett and Suzanne Salgado at Williams & Connolly.
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A Blueprint For Structuring An Effective Plaintiff Case Story
The number and size of nuclear verdicts continue to rise, in part because plaintiffs attorneys have become more adept at crafting compelling trial stories — and an analysis of these success stories reveals a 10-part framework for structuring an effective case narrative, says Jonathan Ross at Decision Analysis.
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Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
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And Now A Word From The Panel: The MDL Map
An intriguing yet unpredictable facet of multidistrict litigation practice is venue selection for new MDL proceedings, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation considers many factors when it assigns an MDL venue, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.
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Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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Reassessing Lease Provisions To Account For ESG Initiatives
As companies seek to build ESG considerations into their businesses, it's crucial to understand how such initiatives can quickly become significant enough to compel reassessment of lease agreement provisions, and how best to modify leases accordingly, say Julian Freeman and Gabe Pitassi at Cox Castle.
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Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics
Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.
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Integrating ESG Into Risk Management Programs
Amid increasing regulations and reporting requirements for corporate sustainability in the European Union and the U.S., companies might consider how to incorporate environmental, social and governance factors into more formalized risk management, say directors at Alvarez & Marsal.
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How Labeling And Testing May Help Reduce PFAS Litigation
As regulators take steps to reduce consumers’ exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals, companies can take a proactive approach to mitigating litigation risks not only by labeling their products transparently, but also by complying with testing and marketing standards, says Sarah La Pearl at Segal McCambridge.