Analysis

Lawmakers Take Stab At Energy Permitting As Election Looms

By Keith Goldberg

U.S. Senate energy committee leaders have proposed legislation that would significantly overhaul energy project infrastructure permitting, but it faces a sharply divided Congress made even more daunting by a presidential election this fall. With an initial markup scheduled for Wednesday, here are some key takeaways.

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Justices Urged To Hear Red State Bid To End Climate Torts

By Madeline Lyskawa

Industry groups and conservative think tanks urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a novel request by 19 Republican-led states to nix climate change torts brought by rival state governments against fossil fuel companies, arguing the rival states' claims violate the constitutional bounds of state authority.

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California Disses Chamber's Climate Compliance Attack

By Katryna Perera

The state of California on Wednesday slammed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's attempt to block the state's corporate climate disclosure rules before discovery opened in the Chamber's suit, arguing it should be allowed a chance to disprove the group's "vague and unsubstantiated" claims.

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EPA OIG Says Texas, Calif. Pollution Sources Need Oversight

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has, since at least 2006, failed to keep tabs on air pollution sources in California and Texas that might require more stringent control measures, the EPA's internal watchdog said Wednesday.

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Dems' Bill Looks To Prevent Collusion With OPEC

By Courtney Bublé

A pair of Democrats in the House and Senate on environmental committees introduced a bill Wednesday to punish fossil fuel companies that collude with OPEC to increase prices.

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Insurer Can't Link Secrets Suit To $47M Claim, Ex-Worker Says

By David Minsky

A former worker for British insurance company Beazley urged a Florida federal court Thursday to toss claims alleging trade secrets theft, saying the company's suit doesn't show how he supposedly caused it to incur $47 million in damages from an arbitration case over a Brazilian thermoelectric plant.

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1st Circ. Leery Of Fishing Industry Challenge To Wind Farm

By Julie Manganis

A First Circuit panel on Thursday appeared unlikely to disturb a district court's rulings affirming a series of approvals for a massive wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, questioning procedural claims by fishing industry groups and whether they have standing to sue.

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Zurich Can't Revive Deductible In Georgia Coverage Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

A Georgia federal judge rejected Zurich American Insurance Co.'s bid to reverse a ruling holding it could and did waive a $2.5 million flood deductible in its coverage row with First Solar Electric LLC over storm damage to a solar farm, holding that the insurer was just "regurgitating" arguments.

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Via Renewables Investor Sues In Chancery Over Buyout Deal

By Leslie A. Pappas

A former common stockholder of Via Renewables Inc. has sued the Houston energy company's board members and controlling stockholders in Delaware's Court of Chancery, alleging they breached their fiduciary duties in connection with a June 13 buyout that took the company private.

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Brief

Solar Tech Co. Investor Drops Securities Action

By Tom Lotshaw

An Enphase Energy Inc. shareholder told a California federal judge he's voluntarily dismissing a proposed class action alleging the energy technology company and its executives had failed to disclose slow growth trends.

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6th Circ. Asks Union If Steel Co. Must Pay 'Double' Benefits

By Carolyn Muyskens

During oral arguments Thursday in a "messy, complex" union fringe benefits dispute, a Sixth Circuit panel questioned whether ruling for a union pension fund would require a steel contractor to pay benefits twice for out-of-state workers. 

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The Rise Of State And Local Environmental Leadership

While Congress is deadlocked, and a U.S. Supreme Court with a hostility toward the administrative state aggressively dismantles federal environmental oversight, state and local governments are stepping up with policies to shape a more sustainable future for all species, says Jonathan Rosenbloom at Albany Law School.

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NYSE Delisting May Be The Cost Of FCPA Compliance

ABB’s recent decision to delist its U.S. depository receipts from the New York Stock Exchange, coupled with having settled three Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement actions, begs the question of whether the cost of FCPA compliance should factor into a company's decision to remain listed in the U.S., says John Joy at FTI Law.

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BREAKING: Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Gets 5 Years For Theft

By Carla Baranauckas

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer was sentenced Friday in a New Jersey state court to five years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax.

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Analysis

How Barrett Became The High Court's Justice To Watch

By Katie Buehler

Justice Amy Coney Barrett has revealed a unique trifecta of caution toward overly broad opinions, devotion to the factual record and concern for the practical effects of court rulings that separates her from the other right-leaning justices and contains the potential to broker more moderate rulings in future terms.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen U.K. band The 1975 face action by Future Sound Asia after its performance in Malaysia resulted in a festival's cancelation, Spectrum Insurance hit by The Motoring Organization following their dispute over information misuse, and a former police constable pursue defamation against a colleague for allegedly instigating a campaign of harassment against her. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Roundup

After Chevron

In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

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