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Energy
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May 22, 2025
Federal Gov't Backs States' BlackRock Coal Investments Suit
The federal government on Thursday threw its support behind a case from Texas and several other states that accuses investment groups including BlackRock Inc. of using their energy holdings to drive up coal prices under the guise of environmental concerns.
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May 22, 2025
Manufacturer Seeks Over $19M In Beryllium Release Coverage
A medical device manufacturer accused a Zurich unit of breach of contract and bad faith in Massachusetts federal court, seeking at least $19 million in damages after it said storms caused an "unprecedented dispersal" of beryllium at one of its plants in the United Kingdom.
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May 22, 2025
Congress Kills Calif. EV Program Waiver, Other Climate Rules
Congress on Thursday sent President Donald Trump four resolutions undoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency actions, including the Biden-era approval of California's effort to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state, drawing a promise of litigation from the state.
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May 22, 2025
Power Plant Co. Nukes Suit Over Reactor Project Disclosures
Nuclear power company NuScale Power Corp. and its top brass have escaped, for now, a proposed investor class action alleging the company failed to disclose certain issues affecting two purportedly lucrative contracts it touted to shareholders, including one tied to crypto mining, with an Oregon federal judge finding the investors failed to plead any actionable misleading statements, among other things.
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May 22, 2025
Michigan Seeks 6th Circ. Rehearing In Enbridge Pipeline Row
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked the full Sixth Circuit to find she is protected by sovereign immunity from an Enbridge Energy lawsuit to halt her efforts to shut down an oil and natural gas pipeline.
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May 22, 2025
5th Circ. Denies Challenge To La. Oversight Of Carbon Wells
A Fifth Circuit panel said several environmental groups failed to show any imminent injuries stemming from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to approve Louisiana's plan to oversee carbon sequestration wells, and dismissed their challenge for lack of standing.
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May 22, 2025
Trustee Alleges Developer Sold Gas Rights To Avoid Creditors
A bankrupt developer sold its oil and gas rights to an affiliated company for only $100 per parcel in order to keep them from becoming part of the bankruptcy estate, the estate's trustee has claimed in an adversary complaint.
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May 22, 2025
Simpson Thacher Lands White & Case Energy Pro In Houston
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP has added an attorney in Houston who worked at White & Case LLP for more than a decade, to bolster its efforts to assist clients with project, energy and infrastructure financing and other banking matters.
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May 21, 2025
Ore. Fire Verdict Brings PacifiCorp Damages To $385M
An Oregon jury held Wednesday that PacifiCorp must pay roughly $50 million to 10 victims of the state's 2020 Labor Day wildfires, bringing the total damages verdicts in the class action against the Berkshire Hathaway-owned utility to $385 million as more bellwether trials are expected to play out throughout 2025.
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May 21, 2025
Zurich Gets Default Win In $4.6M Contractor Coverage Spat
Zurich American Insurance Co. doesn't owe coverage to two subcontractors accused of bungling work on a Georgia natural gas plant, a federal judge has ruled, granting the insurer a default win in its suit seeking to nullify a $4.6 million claim.
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May 21, 2025
SC Judge Restores Frozen Federal Grant Funding
A South Carolina federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore 32 grants funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act after the government said it wasn't contesting the merits of the grant recipients' claims.
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May 21, 2025
Courts Can't Review Trump's Tariff Emergencies, Gov't Says
Courts can't review President Donald Trump's decision that unusual or extraordinary threats exist under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a government attorney told the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday as 12 states seek to block Trump's tariffs under the law.
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May 21, 2025
Offshore Wind Farm Foes Back Trump Permitting Pause
Opponents of a New Jersey offshore wind farm on Wednesday backed the Trump administration's freeze on wind project permitting, telling a Massachusetts federal judge the moratorium is both legal and constitutional.
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May 21, 2025
EPA Chief Defends Trump Plan To Halve Agency Budget
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday told senators that despite President Donald Trump's proposal to cut the EPA's budget by 55% and an internal reorganization, agency scientists can handle the current workload.
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May 21, 2025
Atty, Firm Sanctioned For Losing Info In RICO, Defamation Suits
An Alabama federal judge granted Drummond Co. Inc.'s request for sanctions over missing emails and other information in litigation accusing Conrad & Scherer LLP and one of its former managing partners of defamation and RICO violations.
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May 21, 2025
Energy Co. Beats Retiree's Suit Over Pension Calculations
A Florida federal judge tossed a retiree's suit claiming an energy company violated federal benefits law by failing to warn pension plan members that rising interest rates would reduce their lump sum payments, ruling the ex-worker is improperly asking the business to act as an advisor, not a fiduciary.
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May 21, 2025
Shell JV Escapes $58M Nigeria Oil Contract Payment Suit
A New York federal judge has said he lacks jurisdiction to hear a Nigerian contracting company's lawsuit seeking $58 million in fees from a Royal Dutch Shell joint venture over the construction of an oil and gas facility in the African nation.
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May 21, 2025
Cadwalader Adds Ex-Latham Infrastructure Atty In London
Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP announced it has added a former Latham & Watkins LLP infrastructure finance attorney as a partner in its London office.
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May 20, 2025
FWS' New 'Harm' Proposal Draws Praise, Concern For Species
Fossil fuel, construction and other industry groups say they support the Trump administration's plan to weaken regulatory protections under the Endangered Species Act, while blue state attorneys general and environmental groups urged the government to back off its proposal.
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May 20, 2025
Venezuelan Nationals' RICO Suit Asserting Defamation Tossed
A Florida federal judge has dismissed racketeering and other claims against a director of Venezuela's state-owned oil company and others after determining that the suit accusing them of engaging in a defamatory campaign to smear civic leaders is a shotgun pleading.
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May 20, 2025
Tax Credit Repeal Would Deflate US Hydrogen Development
The Republicans' proposal to eliminate tax credits for producing clean hydrogen in the budget reconciliation bill threatens to kneecap the nascent alternative fuel industry in the U.S. while pushing investments overseas to friendlier markets.
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May 20, 2025
Energy Co. Fights To Keep Alive Suit Over Damaged Well
Oil and gas producer W&T Energy VI LLC told a Texas federal judge that Anardako Petroleum Corp.'s bid to escape claims over damages to a jointly operated offshore well suggests it thinks it can breach their agreement and "commit fraud with impunity."
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May 20, 2025
Gov't Says Unions Too Slow In Calling For Halt Of Restructure
President Donald Trump called for a California federal judge to tank an injunction bid from unions and advocacy groups about his executive order instructing agencies to plan for reductions in force, arguing the request was delayed and the district court lacks jurisdiction.
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May 20, 2025
Russia Challenges EU Carbon Border Tax At WTO
Russia formally initiated a dispute at the World Trade Organization over the European Union's carbon border adjustment mechanism, suggesting that the emissions pricing system violates multilateral trade agreements, according to documents released by the organization.
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May 20, 2025
GOP Will Push Calif. Waiver Vote, Dems Will Jam EPA Noms
Senate Republicans vowed Tuesday to forge ahead with Congressional Review Act resolutions that would repeal clean-vehicle waivers for California that were approved by the Biden administration, while Democrats said they'll throw roadblocks in front of presidential nominees in retaliation.
Expert Analysis
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Tariff Strategies For The US Renewable Energy Sector
The Trump administration's tariff actions over the last few months are challenging for the renewable energy industry — but there are strategies for contending with the uncertainty, including diversifying supply chains, seeking certification about equipment origins, and adding tariff-related language to supply contracts and offtake agreements, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Series
Playing Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Poker is a master class in psychology, risk management and strategic thinking, and I’m a better attorney because it has taught me to read my opponents, adapt when I’m dealt the unexpected and stay patient until I'm ready to reveal my hand, says Casey Kingsley at McCreadyLaw.
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3 Tax Issues Manufacturers Should Watch In 2025 Budget Bill
As Congress works toward a budget reconciliation bill, manufacturing companies should keep a keen eye on proposals to change bonus depreciation, the qualified business income deduction and energy tax credits, which could have a significant impact on capital-intensive industries, say attorneys at Frost Brown Todd.
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Trump Rule Would Upend Endangered Species Status Quo
The Trump administration's recent proposal to rescind the regulatory definition of "harm" in the Endangered Species Act would be a tectonic shift away from years of established regulatory practice, with major implications for both species protection and larger-scale conservation efforts, says David Smith at Manatt.
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Chancery Ruling Raises Bar For Advance Notice Bylaws Suits
The Delaware Court of Chancery's recent ruling in Siegel v. Morse will make it more difficult for plaintiffs to successfully challenge advance notice bylaws before the emergence of an actual or threatened proxy contest, presumably reducing the occurrence of such challenges, say attorneys at Venable.
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DOJ Memo Raises Bar For Imposition Of Corporate Monitors
A recently released U.S. Department of Justice memo, outlining guidance on the imposition of compliance monitors in corporate criminal cases, reflects DOJ leadership’s concerns about scope creep and business costs, but the strategies for companies to avoid a monitorship haven't changed much compared to the Biden era, says James Koukios at MoFo.
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Series
Law School's Missed Lessons: Becoming A Firmwide MVP
Though lawyers don't have a neat metric like baseball players for measuring the value they contribute to their organizations, the sooner new attorneys learn skills frequently skipped in law school — like networking, marketing, client development and case evaluation — the more valuable, and less replaceable, they will be, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.
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Calif. Climate Superfund Bill Faces Legal, Technical Hurdles
California could soon join other states in sending the fossil fuel industry a massive bill for the costs of coping with climate change — but its pending climate Superfund legislation, if enacted, is certain to face legal pushback and daunting implementation challenges, says Donald Sobelman at Farella Braun.
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How Cos. Can Navigate Risks Of New Cartel Terrorist Labels
The Trump administration’s recent designation of eight drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations gives rise to new criminal and civil liabilities for companies that are unwittingly exposed to cartel activity, but businesses can mitigate such risks in a few key ways, say attorneys at Steptoe.
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$38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils
A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.
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Series
Teaching Business Law Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Teaching business law to college students has rekindled my sense of purpose as a lawyer — I am more mindful of the importance of the rule of law and the benefits of our common law system, which helps me maintain a clearer perspective on work, says David Feldman at Feldman Legal Advisors.
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Enviro Justice Efforts After Trump's Disparate Impact Order
The Trump administration's recent executive order directing the U.S. Department of Justice to unwind disparate impact regulations may end some Biden-era environmental justice initiatives — but it will not end all efforts, whether by state or federal regulators or private litigants, to address issues in environmentally overburdened communities, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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Decoding Arbitral Disputes: An Update On ICSID Annulment
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes' recent decision in Peteris Pildegovics and SIA North Star v. Kingdom of Norway offers a reasoned and principled contribution to annulment jurisprudence, effectively balancing the competing imperatives of fairness, finality and institutional coherence, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.
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The Risks Of Trump's Plan To Fast-Track Deregulation
A recent memorandum issued by President Donald Trump directing the repeal of so-called unlawful regulations, and instructing that agencies invoke the good cause exception under the Administrative Procedure Act, signals a potentially far-reaching deregulatory strategy under the guise of legal compliance, say attorneys at GableGotwals.
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Deregulation Memo Presents Risks, Opportunities For Cos.
A recent Trump administration memo providing direction to agencies tasked with rescinding regulations under an earlier executive order — without undergoing the typical notice-and-review process — will likely create much uncertainty for businesses, though they may be able to engage with agencies to shape the regulatory agenda, say attorneys at Blank Rome.