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Environmental
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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
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
Gold Mine Risks Alaska Preserve And Whales, Tribe Claims
An Alaskan tribe and environmental groups have filed suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers seeking to stop a mining company from expanding gold operations, activity that would contaminate the waterways near a national park and harm the endangered beluga whale population.
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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
Solvay Wants Sanctions For 3 Firms Over Confidential Info
Lawyers at three plaintiffs law firms were hit Wednesday with a bid for sanctions by a polymer company that claims the attorneys used confidential discovery in federal multidistrict litigation in New Jersey to file a new action.
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May 21, 2025
Ky. Judge Nixes Treasury's Bid To End Labor Contracts
The U.S. Department of the Treasury lacks standing to seek an order allowing it to lawfully terminate its labor contracts with a federal employee union, a Kentucky federal judge ruled, finding the agency's alleged harm is based on speculation about the potential consequences of enforcing an executive order.
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May 21, 2025
Distributor Can't Duck Revised Crab Price-Fixing Suit
A California federal magistrate judge added Ocean King Fish Inc. to a list of more than a dozen distributors that must face a proposed class action from crabbers alleging a conspiracy to cap prices paid to fishermen for Dungeness crab in the Pacific Northwest.
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May 21, 2025
Simpson Thacher, Hogan Lovells Guide $1.75B Shipping Deal
Typewriter Ascend Ltd., an entity backed by Stonepeak and affiliated with container leasing firm Textainer, has agreed to acquire Global Sea Containers Ltd. from China's Bohai Leasing Co. in a deal valued at $1.75 billion.
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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
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
No Bad Faith Means $461K Case Returns To Fla. State Court
A Florida federal court sent a $461,000 property damage dispute back to state court Tuesday, finding that while a condo association's timing in serving one insurer prevented the carrier from removing the case to federal court, there wasn't bad faith so a deadline applied.
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May 20, 2025
Nonprofits Seek To Block 'Sweeping' AmeriCorps Cuts
A number of education, environmental and housing nonprofits have asked a Maryland federal judge to block the firing of thousands of AmeriCorps employees and the cancellation of $400 million to its programs, saying the move violates core constitutional principles regarding separation of powers that have already had severe consequences.
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May 20, 2025
State AGs Say No To Nixing Wireless Site NHPA Reviews
Eight states are calling on the Federal Communications Commission not to listen to a major wireless trade group's petition encouraging it to cut "burdensome ... red tape," which the states say are actually mandates of the National Historic Preservation Act.
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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
Chicago Orgs Fight Feds' Bid To Drop Dredged Waste Suit
Two advocacy groups that challenged a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decision to expand a disposal facility that stores sediments dredged from Chicago waterways said Monday that the court retains jurisdiction even though the Army Corps has withdrawn that decision and should only dismiss the case on certain conditions.
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May 20, 2025
Health Clinics Say Fake Trash Fee Scheme Cost Them Millions
Republic Services Inc. got hit with a proposed class action by health clinics in Michigan and Ohio that claim the waste disposal company breached its contracts with them by charging "tens of millions" in excess fees without any legal justification.
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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.
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May 20, 2025
Former Hemp Worker Brings Paraquat Suit Against Syngenta
A Colorado man formerly employed in the hemp industry alleged in a new federal lawsuit that his exposure to the herbicide paraquat while at work is responsible for his Parkinson's disease.
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May 20, 2025
Judge Revives Suit Challenging BLM Lease Sales In Utah
A Utah federal judge said she erred when she tossed a lawsuit challenging multiple U.S. Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sales in the state, as she failed to recognize that the agency had recently issued drilling permits for some of the transactions.
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May 20, 2025
2 More Countries Sign WTO Fishing Trade Pact
Two more countries, Georgia and Lesotho, have signed on to a World Trade Organization agreement to improve regulations around fishing industry subsidies.Â
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May 19, 2025
DC Circ. Ponders Letting Gov't Claw Back $20B In Green Funds
The D.C. Circuit didn't seem convinced Monday morning that the Trump administration can't claw back $20 billion in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants that it's trying to cancel and divert elsewhere, hearing arguments over a preliminary injunction blocking the government from doing just that.
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May 19, 2025
Carrier's Kidde-Fenwal Ch. 11 Deal Barred By Purdue, AGs Say
Connecticut and other states Monday objected to Carrier Global Corp.'s proposed $540 million deal releasing it from "forever chemicals" litigation liability through its ownership of bankrupt firefighting foam manufacturer Kidde-Fenwal Inc., saying the U.S. Supreme Court shot down a similar deal in drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP's bankruptcy case.
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May 19, 2025
Interior Dept. Lifts Freeze On Empire Wind Project
The U.S. Department of the Interior has lifted its stop-work order, allowing construction to resume on the Empire Wind offshore wind energy project south of New York's Long Island, according to an announcement made Monday.
Expert Analysis
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Series
Adapting To Private Practice: From SEC To BigLaw
As I adjusted to the multifaceted workflow of a BigLaw firm after leaving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, working side by side with new colleagues on complex matters proved the fastest way to build a deep rapport and demonstrate my value, says Jennifer Lee at Jenner & Block.
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After CEQ's Rollback, Fate Of NEPA May Be In Justices' Hands
The White House Council on Environmental Quality recently announced its intention to rescind its own National Environmental Policy Act regulations, causing additional burdens to existing NEPA challenges, and raising questions for regulated entities and federal agencies that may only be resolved by a pending U.S. Supreme Court case, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
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Making The Case For Rest In The Legal Profession
For too long, a culture of overwork has plagued the legal profession, but research shows that attorneys need rest to perform optimally and sustainably, so legal organizations and individuals must implement strategies that allow for restoration, says Marissa Alert at MDA Wellness, Carol Ross-Burnett at CRB Global, and Denise Robinson at The Still Center.
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4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy
This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.
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Cleanup Claim Characterization Key For Timeliness Inquiry
The Tenth Circuit's recent ruling in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. NL Industries, determining that ARCO's contribution claim was timely, highlights the importance of accurately characterizing a claim for recoupment of environmental cleanup costs as a cost-recovery action or contribution to avoid dismissal or recharacterization of the claim, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.
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A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.
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How To Create A Unique Jury Profile For Every Case
Instead of striking potential jurors based on broad stereotypes or gut feelings, trial attorneys should create case-specific risk profiles that address the political climate, the specific facts of the case and the venue in order to more precisely identify higher-risk jurors, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.
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CO2 Oil Recovery Vs. Carbon Capture: Key Legal Differences
As more states seek primacy over carbon capture and storage wells, it is increasingly important for companies to understand the regulations surrounding CCS, and how they differ from the arguably less complex legal framework for the closely related technology of carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery, says Sarah Milocco at Husch Blackwell.
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Recent Cases Suggest ESG Means 'Ever-Shifting Guidelines'
U.S. courts have recently handed down a number of contradictory decisions on important environmental, social and governance issues, adding to an already complex mix of conflicting political priorities, new laws and changing regulatory guidance — but there are steps that companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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Navigating The Uncertain Future Of The Superfund PFAS Rule
The D.C. Circuit's recent grant of a pause in litigation while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reviews the Biden-era designation of two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as "hazardous" under the Superfund law creates new uncertainty for companies — but more lawsuits are likely as long as the rule remains in effect, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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What To Know About Insurance Coverage For Greenwashing
As the number of public and private lawsuits relating to greenwashing dramatically grows, risk managers of companies making environmental claims should look to several types of insurance for coverage in the event of a suit, say attorneys at Hunton.
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7 Tips For Associates To Thrive In Hybrid Work Environments
Excerpt from
As the vast majority of law firms have embraced some type of hybrid work policy, associates should consider a few strategies to get the most out of both their in-person and remote workdays, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.
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Series
Playing Beach Volleyball Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My commitment to beach volleyball has become integral to my performance as an attorney, with the sport continually reminding me that teamwork, perseverance, professionalism and stress management are essential to both undertakings, says Amy Drushal at Trenam.
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Managing Anti-Corporate Juror Views Revealed By CEO Killing
After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson laid bare deep-seated anti-corporate sentiments among the public, companies in numerous industries will have to navigate the influence of related juror biases on litigation dynamics, say Jorge Monroy and Keith Pounds at IMS Legal Strategies.