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Environmental
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June 05, 2024
Brown Rudnick Partner's 50% Fee Hike Nixed In Ch. 11 Case
A Brown Rudnick LLP bankruptcy partner Wednesday had his 50% fee increase rejected by a Delaware judge, who took issue with the proposed hike to $1,500 an hour for representing the creditors' committee in Kidde-Fenwal Inc.'s Chapter 11 case.
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June 05, 2024
Hertz Hit With Shareholder Suit Over Costs Tied To EVs
Car rental giant Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and two Hertz executives are facing a proposed investor class action in Florida federal court alleging the company hurt investors by overhyping demand for electric cars only later to announce a nearly $200 million hit to earnings as it worked to offload electric vehicles.
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June 05, 2024
Google Cleared From Suit Over Animal Abuse YouTube Videos
A California appeals panel has tossed a nonprofit's suit alleging that Google LLC breached its contract by allowing animal abuse videos on YouTube, saying Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act blocks all its claims.
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June 05, 2024
Utah Tribe Wants 'Depleting' State Water Contract Drained
Utah entered into a water contract with the U.S. Department of the Interior without properly considering the Ute Indian Tribe's water rights, the tribe told a federal court in a request to set aside the deal.
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June 05, 2024
Sierra Club Touts Offshore Wind Cost Savings In New England
The Sierra Club is heralding offshore wind investment as critical to achieving New England's climate goals, slashing energy costs and protecting residents from volatile natural gas prices, citing a new report it commissioned that Synapse Energy Economics Inc. authored.
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June 05, 2024
Colo. To Exempt Modular Homes From Sales Tax
Colorado will exempt new modular home sales from state tax under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.
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June 05, 2024
Feds Say $1B Power Line Permit Challenge Should Be Zapped
The Biden administration and developers of a proposed $1 billion transmission line that would ship hydropower from Quebec to New England are urging a federal judge to dump challenges to federal approvals for the project, saying there's no question they were lawfully issued.
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June 05, 2024
Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Must Specify Water Caused Illnesses
The North Carolina federal court overseeing the Camp Lejeune contaminated-water litigation said Wednesday that former residents of the Marine base need to show that their illnesses were caused specifically and generally by exposure to the tainted water.
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June 05, 2024
Donziger Deserves Pardon, Enviro Groups Tell Biden
A group of environmental and human rights groups are calling on President Joe Biden to pardon disbarred environmental lawyer Steven Donziger for his criminal contempt conviction in litigation brought by Chevron over his role in securing a $9.5 billion environmental judgment in Ecuador.
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June 04, 2024
Judiciary Panel Clears 1st MDL Rule, Eyes 'Mouthpiece' Amici
Top rulemaking gatekeepers for the federal judiciary Tuesday capped off seven years of strife in the defense and plaintiffs bars by backing a milestone measure aimed at optimizing multidistrict litigation, and then promptly greenlighted an entirely different war of words over new efforts to ferret out amicus briefs from "paid mouthpieces" masquerading as independent experts.
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June 04, 2024
Monsanto Tries To Flip $1B PCB Losses As Plaintiffs Press On
Monsanto is moving to capitalize on a Washington state appellate victory it claims casts doubt on more than $1.1 billion in PCB poisoning verdicts, while plaintiffs are staking out positions to defend — and even build on — their blockbuster wins.
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June 04, 2024
GOP Spending Bill Aims To Cut SEC Budget, Nix Climate Rule
The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee released a spending bill Tuesday that threatens to cut funding for financial service agencies and prevent the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from funding its controversial climate disclosure rules and bar Consumer Financial Protection Bureau spending on a contentious rule, as well.
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June 04, 2024
Monsanto Gets $2.25B Roundup Verdict Slashed To $404M
A Pennsylvania judge on Tuesday slashed a $2.25 billion verdict awarded to a cancer patient who claimed Monsanto's glyphosate-based weedkiller Roundup contributed to his lymphoma, reducing the jury's 10-figure damages award to $404 million after the Bayer AG subsidiary argued that the initial award was "unconstitutionally excessive."
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June 04, 2024
Bill Would Give Tribes Stronger Say In Forest Protection
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has introduced legislation that would correct oversights and expand the language of the Tribal Forest Protection Act, arguing that the law has proved too restrictive for Indigenous communities and prevented Alaskan Native corporations from participating in its programs entirely.
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June 04, 2024
Wildfire Attys Descend On Colo. As Xcel Litigation Ramps Up
Hundreds of lawsuits seeking to hold Xcel Energy responsible for a devastating 2021 Colorado wildfire are just the latest battleground for a relatively small community of lawyers who have been involved in some of the biggest catastrophic fire suits in the western U.S.
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June 04, 2024
Red States Target EPA's Tribal Water Rights Rule
A group of red states has told a federal court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has turned the Clean Water Act into what they derisively called the "Tribal Rights Act," through a rule that protects Native American rights to water resources.
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June 04, 2024
Biden Admin Looks To Take Down Ariz. Monument Lawsuits
The Biden administration is asking a federal district court to dismiss lawsuits by the Arizona Legislature and a rancher that look to undo the national monument designation of an Indigenous site in the Grand Canyon region, arguing the lawmakers lack standing to challenge the Antiquities Act as unconstitutional.
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June 04, 2024
Senate Energy Panel Advances Trio Of FERC Nominees
A U.S. Senate energy panel on Tuesday advanced a trio of nominees to fill vacant commissioner slots at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, with the panel's chairman hinting that new energy infrastructure permitting legislation is also on the horizon.
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June 04, 2024
Bracewell Adds Energy Pro From Dentons In DC
Even before becoming an attorney and government affairs professional specializing in the energy and environmental sectors, Andrew Shaw was interested in environmental issues.
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June 04, 2024
Research Co. Pays Record $35M Fine In Dog Abuse Case
A clinical research company has agreed to pay a record $35 million fine for violations of the Animal Welfare Act as part of a deal to resolve criminal charges stemming from the abuse of beagles that it bred for medical research.
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June 04, 2024
11th Circ. Affirms Nix Of IRS Easement Disclosure Guidance
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed Tuesday that an Internal Revenue Service notice imposing reporting requirements on potentially abusive conservation easements was invalid because the agency failed to solicit the public feedback required by administrative law.
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June 03, 2024
PacifiCorp To Pay $178M To 400 Oregonians Over Fires
PacifiCorp has agreed to pay $178 million to more than 400 Oregon residents affected by a cluster of wildfires that burned more than a million acres of land on Labor Day 2020 amid dangerously dry and windy weather conditions, the utility announced Monday.
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June 03, 2024
ChampionX Investor Sues Over $7.8B Deal Proxy
A shareholder of energy technology provider ChampionX Corp. has sued the company and its board of directors in an attempt to enjoin a proposed acquisition by another energy-focused technology company, SLB, alleging that ChampionX filed a deficient proxy statement.
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June 03, 2024
Green Groups Drop Their Challenge To SEC's Climate Rule
The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club have voluntarily asked the Eighth Circuit to dismiss their challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule, saying they are instead focusing their resources elsewhere.
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June 03, 2024
Fifth Third Bank Sued Over 'Hidden' Cost Of Solar Panel Loans
Fifth Third Bank faces a proposed class action alleging that its solar panel financing business violated the federal Truth in Lending Act by failing to disclose that it keeps a significant portion of the cost of certain solar panel system purchases while telling consumers it was lending to them at a low interest rate.
Expert Analysis
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California Shows A Viable Way Forward For PFAS Testing
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no good way of testing for the presence of specific per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in food packaging — but a widely available test for a range of fluorine compounds that's now being used in California may offer a good solution, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Ruling In La. May Undercut EPA Enviro Justice Efforts
A Louisiana federal court's recent decision in Louisiana v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will likely serve as a template for other states to oppose the EPA's use of disparate impact analyses in Title VI civil rights cases aimed at advancing environmental justice policies and investigations, say Jonathan Brightbill and Joshua Brown at Winston & Strawn.
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Calif. High Court Ruling Has Lessons For Waiving Jury Trials
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision in TriCoast Builders v. Fonnegra, denying relief to a contractor that had waived its right to a jury trial, shows that litigants should always post jury fees as soon as possible, and seek writ review if the court denies relief from a waiver, say Steven Fleischman and Nicolas Sonnenburg at Horvitz & Levy.
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Take AG James' Suit Over Enviro Claims As A Warning
New York Attorney General Letitia James' recent suit against JBS USA Food Co. over allegedly misleading claims about its goal to reach net zero by 2040 indicates that challenges to green claims are likely to continue, and that companies should think twice about ignoring National Advertising Division recommendations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.
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8 Tips As GCs Prep For New SEC Climate Disclosure Rules
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recently adopted rules governing climate-related disclosures represent a major change to the existing public company disclosure regime, so in-house counsel should begin to evaluate existing systems and resources related to emissions data, and identify the changes that will need to be made, say attorneys at Bracewell.
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What New Waste Management Laws Signal For The Future
Several states have enacted extended producer responsibility and recycling labeling laws that will take effect in the next few years and force manufacturers to take responsibility for the end of life of their products, so companies should closely follow compliance timelines and push to innovate in the area, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Del. Supreme Court Insurance Ruling Aids In Defining 'Claim'
The recent Delaware Supreme Court decision in Zurich v. Syngenta, finding that a presuit letter did not constitute a claim for insurance purposes, sets out a three-factor test to help policyholders distinguish when a demand rises to the level of a claim, says Lara Langeneckert at Barnes & Thornburg.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Securing A Common Understanding Of Language Used At Trial
Witness examinations in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump illustrate the importance of building a common understanding of words and phrases and examples as a fact-finding tool at trial, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
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How Fieldwood Ch. 11 Ruling Bolsters Section 363 Confidence
The Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in Fieldwood Energy’s Chapter 11 cases, which clarified that challenges to integral aspects of a bankruptcy sale are statutorily moot under Section 363(m) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, should bolster the confidence of prospective purchasers in these sales, say attorneys at V&E.
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Opinion
Proposed MDL Management Rule Needs Refining
Proponents of the recently proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 believe it may enhance efficiency in multidistrict litigation proceedings if adopted, but there are serious concerns that it could actually hinder plaintiffs' access to justice through the courts — and there are fundamental flaws that deserve our attention, says Ashleigh Raso at Nigh Goldenberg.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face
Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.