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Environmental

  • April 28, 2025

    Ziploc 'Microwave Safe' Bags Shed Microplastics, Buyer Says

    S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. falsely markets Ziploc bags and containers as "microwave safe" and suitable for use in freezers despite knowing they are made from materials that shed microplastics into food when the products are used as directed, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.

  • April 28, 2025

    FAIR Plan Failed To Pay For LA Fire Smoke Claims, Suit Says

    Another group of California homeowners has accused the state's insurer of last resort of illegally denying and underpaying claims for smoke damage following the Los Angeles wildfires despite its obligation to cover all fire-related damage under California law, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.

  • April 28, 2025

    Green Group Says Shell Case Discovery Fees Are Too Costly

    A Philadelphia-based environmental group suing Shell over pollution from a Western Pennsylvania chemical plant balked at a federal court's order that it pay 15% of the cost to resolve a discovery dispute, arguing it could be left with a potentially devastating tab.

  • April 28, 2025

    EPA Restarts Voluntary Retirement Program

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday refreshed its effort to convince employees to take a voluntary retirement package that was rolled out in the early days of the Trump administration but has been dormant until now.

  • April 28, 2025

    Nikola Seeks Court OK For $9M Climate-Credit Sale Process

    Electric truck maker Nikola Corp. has asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to approve a sale process for environmental credits the company earned by selling zero-emission vehicles, saying it has secured an $8.97 million bid that will set a floor price for the assets.

  • April 28, 2025

    EPA Touts Intention To Act On PFAS Contamination

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it's planning a series of actions to address pollution from forever chemicals, including the designation of a leader for PFAS regulation and issues at the EPA.

  • April 28, 2025

    10th Circ. Says EPA Overlooked Colo. Air Pollution Concerns

    The Tenth Circuit on Monday said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inappropriately approved changes to Colorado's air pollution standards that a green group claimed allow regulators to disregard emissions during drilling, fracking and well completion processes.

  • April 25, 2025

    PacifiCorp Should Pay $96M To Wildfire Victims, Jury Told

    Nine plaintiffs who fled from wildfires started by PacifiCorp's negligence should get $95.5 million in noneconomic damages, an Oregon state jury heard in closing arguments Friday, while PacifiCorp's lawyer told the jury to focus on what the evidence actually supports and award roughly $2.2 million in that category.

  • April 25, 2025

    Okla. Backs Wind Farm At 10th Circ. In Osage Mineral Dispute

    Oklahoma is backing Enel Power in its Tenth Circuit bid to undo a $4.2 million judgment and order requiring it to remove 84 wind turbines from the Osage Nation reservation, saying the project provides tax revenue, employment and a stable power source for tens of thousands of homes.

  • April 25, 2025

    SPAC Deals Are Buzzing Again Despite Tariff Turmoil

    Amid heavy volatility that has largely frozen traditional initial public offerings, deal teams are launching more special purpose acquisition companies, an alternative market to typical IPOs that so far has shown few ill effects from tariff-related uncertainty.

  • April 25, 2025

    Interior's Energy Permits Plan Has Legal And Practical Risks

    The U.S. Department of the Interior's plan to truncate environmental reviews and accelerate the approval process for certain energy projects could be vulnerable to lawsuits, given the legwork needed to ensure project reviews are sufficient.

  • April 25, 2025

    Judge Blocks Trump Order Limiting Fed. Worker Bargaining

    A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Friday blocked President Donald Trump's order last month seeking to end collective bargaining for workers at more than a dozen federal agencies with national security roles, two days after suggesting during oral arguments that Trump's order was retaliatory.

  • April 25, 2025

    Exxon Can't Use $8.5M Deal To Skirt Pa. Suit, Judge Says

    Exxon Mobil Corp. and ExxonMobil Oil Corp. can't use an $8.5 million settlement from 2012 to escape Pennsylvania's drinking water contamination suit, a New York federal judge has ruled.

  • April 25, 2025

    $1.1M Hail Coverage Suit Against Travelers Is Time-Barred

    An Oklahoma property owner cannot get revised coverage from two Travelers units for more than $1.1 million in claimed hail damage repairs, an Oklahoma federal court ruled, finding that after Travelers paid roughly $100,000 in coverage, the property owner filed its coverage action too late. 

  • April 25, 2025

    WTO Will Hear EU-China Dispute Over Electric Car Batteries

    A World Trade Organization dispute panel will hear China's complaint against the European Union's duties on Beijing's electric car batteries after talks between the two governments failed to resolve the matter, the global trade watchdog announced Friday.

  • April 25, 2025

    Font Size Error Dooms USDA Contract Bid

    An information technology services company lost out on a U.S. Department of Agriculture contract for using the wrong font size in its quotation, after the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that it failed to follow the USDA's formatting guidelines.

  • April 25, 2025

    Calif. AG Asks Court To Sink Exxon Recycling Defamation Suit

    California's attorney general is asking a Texas federal court to dismiss Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit alleging he and several conservation groups have disparaged the company's reputation by declaring that it misled people about the effectiveness of plastic recycling.

  • April 25, 2025

    NJ Industrial Remediation Claims Not Time-Barred, Panel Says

    A Garden State appellate panel on Friday revived New Jersey's suit seeking the remediation of a contaminated industrial property in the city of Camden and associated damages, ruling that the state's remediation claims are not time-barred.

  • April 25, 2025

    Apache Want To Pause Enviro Study Until High Court Ruling

    An Apache nonprofit has urged an Arizona federal judge to issue an emergency injunction barring the government from transferring an ancient worship site to a mining company until the U.S. Supreme Court can rule on the group's petition, which seeks to block the endeavor.

  • April 25, 2025

    Nelson Mullins Adds Product Liability Pro In Charlotte

    Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP has welcomed seasoned product liability litigator William Purnell to its Charlotte, North Carolina, litigation group, where the firm said it intends to draw on his experience defending manufacturers in complex matters involving everything from consumer goods to industrial equipment.

  • April 25, 2025

    Taxation With Representation: Dechert, Brown Rudnick

    In this week's Taxation With Representation, Boeing sells parts of its digital aviation solutions business to Thoma Bravo, Baker Tilly and Moss Adams join forces, Mobico sells its U.S. school bus business to I Squared Capital, and Apollo commits to a joint venture with Bullrock Energy Ventures.

  • April 24, 2025

    DOT Drops SDNY Attys Who Accidentally Exposed Case Flaws

    The U.S. Department of Transportation said Thursday it replaced its defense counsel after the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York's Southern District accidentally filed publicly a confidential memo advising the DOT it's "very unlikely" to win litigation challenging the DOT's bid to kill New York's congestion pricing.

  • April 24, 2025

    11th Circ. Considers Sackett's Impact In Clean Water Suit

    Green groups and citizens who alleged Georgia's Sea Island resort misled the Army Corps of Engineers about a wetlands filling project urged the Eleventh Circuit to revive their suit Thursday, with the groups and resort arguing the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Sackett v. EPA worked in their favor.

  • April 24, 2025

    EPA Faces Diverging Input On How To Modify WOTUS Rule

    The Trump administration is being pulled in opposite directions by a wide variety of industry groups that are urging it to take a very narrow view of the Clean Water Act's jurisdiction, and environmental organizations and others who say the law should cover the most waterways possible.

  • April 24, 2025

    2 SPACs Join Recovering Market With $461M In New Capital

    Two special purpose acquisition companies raised $461 million combined through initial public offerings in the past two days in order to pursue mergers targeting several industries, represented by three law firms, extending an uptick in SPAC offerings despite broader market volatility.

Expert Analysis

  • Advancing Storage-Integrated Power Generation In Turkey

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    Recent proposals by energy regulators in Turkey have laid the groundwork for further development of electricity generation plants with integrated energy storage facilities — offering opportunities for project developers and investors, and a possible model for U.S. regulators, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team

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    In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.

  • The Story Of 2024's Biggest Bank Regs, And Their Fate In 2025

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    U.S. federal bank regulators were very active in 2024 with initiatives ranging from antitrust and capital to proposals regarding controlling shareholders and incentive-based compensation, but many regulations face an uncertain future under the new administration, say attorneys at Latham.

  • Opinion

    1 Year After Rule 702 Changes, Courts Have Made Progress

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    In the year since amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence went into effect, many federal judges have applied the new expert witness standard correctly, excluding unreliable testimony from their courts — but now state courts need to update their own rules accordingly, says Lee Mickus at Evans Fears.

  • An Underutilized Tool To Dismiss Meritless Claims In Texas

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    In Texas, special appearances provide a useful but often overlooked tool for out-of-state defendants to escape meritless claims early in litigation, thus limiting discovery and creating a pathway for immediate appellate review, say attorneys at Winston & Strawn.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Executive Orders That Could Affect Financial Services In 2025

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    The incoming Trump administration is likely to quickly revive or update a number of prior executive orders, and possibly issue new ones, that could affect financial services by emphasizing market discipline rather than regulatory initiatives to drive change in the industry, say attorneys at Davis Wright.

  • Green Projects Face States' Foreign Land Ownership Limits

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    As states impose restrictions and disclosure requirements around foreign investment in agricultural land — in some cases piggybacking on existing federal rules — renewable energy developers and investors must pay close attention to how the rules vary, says Daniel Fanning at Husch Blackwell.

  • What 2024 Trends In Marketing, Comms Hiring Mean For 2025

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    The state of hiring in legal industry marketing, business development and communications over the past 12 months was marked by a number of trends — from changes in the C-suite to lateral move challenges — providing clues for what’s to come in the year ahead, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • How Attorneys Can Master The Art Of Eye Contact At Trial

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    As a growing body of research confirms that eye contact facilitates communication and influences others, attorneys should follow a few pointers to maximize the power of eye contact during voir dire, witness preparation, direct examination and cross-examination, says trial consultant Noelle Nelson.

  • Series

    Group Running Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The combination of physical fitness and community connection derived from running with a group of business leaders has, among other things, helped me to stay grounded, improve my communication skills, and develop a deeper empathy for clients and colleagues, says Jessica Shpall Rosen at Greenwald Doherty.

  • Hawaii Climate Insurance Case Is Good News For Energy Cos.

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    The Hawaii Supreme Court's recent ruling in a dispute between an oil company and its insurers, holding that reckless conduct in the context of activities that can cause climate harms is covered by liability policies, will likely be viewed by energy companies as a positive development, say attorneys at Fenchurch Law.

  • Cos. Must Brace For New PFAS Regulations And Litigation

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed adding over 100 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances to the Toxic Release Inventory — and with increasing scrutiny of PFAS from the states and the plaintiffs bar as well, companies should take steps to reduce risks in this area, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Opinion

    6 Changes I Would Make If I Ran A Law School

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    Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner identifies several key issues plaguing law schools and discusses potential solutions, such as opting out of the rankings game and mandating courses in basic writing skills.

  • Implications Of NY Climate Case For Generating Facilities

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    Regardless of how Greenidge Generation LLC v. New York Department of Environmental Conservation develops on remand, this decision has immediate repercussions for generating facilities seeking permit applications and renewals in New York, likely involving Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act considerations, say attorneys at Hodgson Russ.

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