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Environmental

  • 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.

  • April 24, 2025

    8th Circ. Quizzes SEC About Fate Of Climate Regs

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been ordered by the Eighth Circuit to say whether it plans to withdraw or rewrite corporate climate disclosure rules that it is no longer defending in court, with the litigation surrounding the rules being put on hold at the request of several blue states until the agency discloses next steps.

  • April 24, 2025

    $1M Settlement In Ga. PFAS Litigation Gets Judge's Final OK

    A Georgia federal judge gave a final sign-off Wednesday to a $1 million settlement that will see a chemical company provide temporary drinking water resources to a northwest Georgia town to end the company's involvement in a suit over the alleged release of forever chemicals into local waterways.

  • April 24, 2025

    DOJ Probing Disney-FuboTV Deal, And Other Rumors

    The DOJ is investigating Disney's proposed FuboTV acquisition, Merck is close to a $3.5 billion deal for SpringWorks, and U.S. investor James Cameron offered $5 billion for a Luxembourg-based mining enterprise. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the last week.

  • April 24, 2025

    Pennsylvania Coal Co. Reaches Cleanup Deal In Ch. 11 Case

    Bankrupt coal-mining company Corsa Coal Corp. told a Pennsylvania judge that it had reached a deal with state regulators that resolves a dispute over water source cleanup obligations, with the debtor agreeing to pay $800,000 to be distributed to contaminated water source users.

  • April 24, 2025

    US Must Pay ND $28M Over Dakota Access Pipeline Protest

    The United States must pay the state of North Dakota $28 million in damages for its failure to control Dakota Access pipeline protesters, a federal judge determined, saying the judgment is a reminder to the federal government of its role in the larger picture of ensuring peace.

  • April 23, 2025

    CEOs Urge SEC To Ban Political Activists' Proxy Proposals

    The Business Roundtable on Wednesday urged the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Congress to quickly reform the shareholder proposal process for public companies, including by banning activists' proposals relating to environmental, social and political issues, saying proxy statements have become "battlegrounds for political debates."

  • April 23, 2025

    Oil Giants Lose Bid To Shake DC 'Greenwashing' Suit

    A D.C. Superior Court judge has refused to throw out a D.C. lawsuit accusing BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell of long misleading consumers about climate change and the central role that their fossil fuel products have played in causing it.

Expert Analysis

  • Rethinking How To Engage Shareholders, Activists Via Proxies

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    ​​​​​​​This proxy season, companies should consider visually driven proxy statements that highlight the board's strengths, the alignment between executive compensation and performance, and a commitment to sustainability and risk management to earn the support of investors and fend off hostile acquirers, say Craig Clay and Ron Schneider at DFIN.

  • Opinion

    Judge Should Not Have Been Reprimanded For Alito Essay

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    Senior U.S. District Judge Michael Ponsor's New York Times essay critiquing Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito for potential ethical violations absolutely cannot be construed as conduct prejudicial to the administration of the business of the courts, says Ashley London at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University.

  • 5 Key Takeaways From Energy Secretary's Confirmation

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    The recent confirmation hearing for U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright highlighted several important themes, including his vision for transforming the DOE, his nuanced stance on renewables, and a renewed emphasis on energy abundance and affordability, says Connor McCulloch at Ankura Consulting Group.

  • What Day 1 Bondi Memos Mean For Corporate Compliance

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    After Attorney General Pam Bondi’s flurry of memos last week declaring new enforcement priorities on issues ranging from foreign bribery to diversity initiatives, companies must base their compliance programs on an understanding of their own core values and principles, says Hui Chen at CDE Advisors.

  • Lights, Camera, Ethics? TV Lawyers Tend To Set Bad Example

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    Though fictional movies and television shows portraying lawyers are fun to watch, Hollywood’s inaccurate depictions of legal ethics can desensitize attorneys to ethics violations and lead real-life clients to believe that good lawyers take a scorched-earth approach, says Nancy Rapoport at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

  • Steel Cases Test Executive Authority, Judicial Scope

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    Lawsuits challenging former President Joe Biden’s order blocking the merger of Japan's Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel may shape how future administrations wield presidential authority over foreign investment in the name of national security, says Hdeel Abdelhady at MassPoint Legal.

  • What Calif. Bill Could Mean For Battery Energy Storage

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    A newly proposed bill in the California Legislature would place major restrictions on the development of battery energy storage system projects in the state — but with Gov. Gavin Newsom's strong support for clean energy technology, the legislation will likely face significant obstacles, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 3 Ways Trump Can Nix SEC's Climate Disclosure Rules

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    Given President Donald Trump's campaign statements and agency appointments, it's likely that his administration will try to annul the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rules, but his options for doing so present unique opportunities and challenges, with varying levels of permanence and impact, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • Perspectives

    Accountant-Owned Law Firms Could Blur Ethical Lines

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    KPMG’s recent application to open a legal practice in Arizona represents the first overture by an accounting firm to take advantage of the state’s relaxed law firm ownership rules, but enforcing and supervising the practice of law by nonattorneys could prove particularly challenging, says Seth Laver at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Reg Waiver Eases Calif. Rebuilding, But Proceed With Care

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    California Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order suspending some environmental review and permitting requirements for the reconstruction of homes and businesses damaged by recent wildfires may streamline rebuilding efforts, but will require careful navigation of the evolving regulatory landscape, says Gregory Berlin at Alston & Bird.

  • The Post-Macquarie Securities Fraud-By-Omission Landscape

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 opinion in Macquarie v. Moab distinguished inactionable "pure omissions" from actionable "half-truths," the line between the two concepts in practice is still unclear, presenting challenges for lower courts parsing statements that often fall within the gray area of "misleading by omission," say attorneys at Katten.

  • Trump's Energy Plans: Climate, Data Centers, LNG And More

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    With a host of executive orders addressing climate and emissions policies, expanded energy development, offshore and onshore projects, liquefied natural gas and more, the second Trump administration has already given energy companies much to consider, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • AI Will Soon Transform The E-Discovery Industrial Complex

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    Todd Itami at Covington discusses how generative artificial intelligence will reshape the current e-discovery paradigm, replacing the blunt instrument of data handling with a laser scalpel of fully integrated enterprise solutions — after first making e-discovery processes technically and legally harder.

  • A View Of The Shifting Insurance Regulatory Landscape

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    Attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland explore how the Federal Insurance Office's climate report, the new presidential administration and the California wildfires might affect the insurance regulatory landscape.

  • Trump's Energy Plans: Funding, Permits And Nuclear Power

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    In the wake of President Donald Trump's flurry of first-day executive orders focusing on the energy sector, attorneys at Gibson Dunn analyze what this presidency will mean for energy-related grants and loans, changes to permitting processes and developments in nuclear power.

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