Environmental

  • June 04, 2026

    Calif. And Santa Barbara Beat Land Use Challenge, For Now

    A California federal judge dismissed, for now, a lawsuit by a developer seeking to build a multifamily housing project near Santa Barbara's Old Mission over a new state law that allegedly singled out the project for additional environmental review, while acknowledging Tuesday there are "serious constitutional questions raised here."

  • June 04, 2026

    New Conn. Pollution Laws Focus On Releases, Not Transfers

    Under new release-based cleanup regulations that took effect March 1, Connecticut now requires pollution to be reported and remediated when it is found, not when property changes hands, a shift lawyers say expands reporting requirements and accelerates cleanup timelines.

  • June 04, 2026

    Syngenta Again Tries To Move Paraquat Mass Tort From Philly

    Syngenta has filed a motion challenging Philadelphia's mass tort program as the venue for claims that its herbicide paraquat contributes to Parkinson's disease in those exposed to the chemical.

  • June 04, 2026

    Feds Seek To Vacate Endangered-Lizard Listing To Settle Suit

    Texas and the U.S. Interior Department asked a federal judge to approve a settlement vacating the Biden-era designation of a lizard species as endangered, after Texas argued that the move was unfounded and imperiled energy development around the Permian Basin.

  • June 04, 2026

    EPA Unlawfully Delayed Methane Rule, Groups Tell DC Circ.

    Environmental groups told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by extending without justification compliance deadlines for initiating requirements aimed at reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas sector.

  • June 04, 2026

    Data Center Power Co. Innio Prices Upsized $2.4B IPO

    Innio, a manufacturer of gas engines used to power artificial intelligence systems, began trading Thursday on the Nasdaq after raising $2.4 billion in an upsized initial public offering guided by Latham & Watkins LLP and Milbank LLP.

  • June 03, 2026

    5th Circ. Says ChampionX Lacks Rights Under Spill Policy

    A Fifth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed a decision finding that ChampionX Corp. lacked the contractual standing to sue insurers for coverage of a $40 million oil spill lawsuit involving one of its subsidiaries, but gave the company a chance to add parties to its complaint in the lower court. 

  • June 03, 2026

    Colo. Energy Co. Loses Fight Over ND Oil Lease Cancellation

    A North Dakota federal judge granted the government an early win in a Colorado energy company's bid for the court to vacate a series of Bureau of Indian Affairs decisions that found it didn't own interest in an oil lease, upholding the agency's decision that the company lacked standing.

  • June 03, 2026

    NJ Says Most Of $3B PFAS Deal Objector Issues Are Resolved

    New Jersey told a federal court this week it has reached agreements with all but two of the parties that objected to proposed deals worth a combined $3 billion with 3M Co. and various DuPont entities to resolve claims over contamination caused by forever chemicals, saying the agreements further support the court's approval of the settlements.

  • June 03, 2026

    Fireworks Cos. Settle Gender Reveal Wildfire Suit For $4M

    An Ohio-based smoke bomb-maker, its subsidiary and a gender reveal company have agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle claims from the federal government over the 2020 El Dorado Fire, which burned nearly 23,000 acres and killed a firefighter.

  • June 03, 2026

    OXEA's $8M Policy Covers Toxic Gas Exposure, 5th Circ. Told 

    The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday fielded dueling arguments from OXEA Corp. and insurance policy underwriters on whether the chemical giant is entitled to $8 million in coverage under an environmental pollution policy to cover part of a settlement reached with a contractor's employee who was exposed to carbon monoxide.

  • June 03, 2026

    Pillsbury Hit With Suit Over Alleged $145M Loan Fraud

    An investment fund has filed a complaint in New York State court accusing a Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman partner of conspiring with convicted fraudsters to con the fund into writing a $145 million loan to now-defunct financial services company Aspiration Partners.

  • June 03, 2026

    SEC Climate Rule Reversal May Spark Fresh Lawsuit

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's plan to withdraw corporate climate disclosure regulations could see the commission back in court two years after it was sued for adopting those same regulations, with investor advocates questioning the legality of the agency's change of direction.

  • June 03, 2026

    Iowa Creates Sales Tax Break For Nuclear Energy Facilities

    Iowa nuclear energy facilities that are beginning or restarting operation are eligible for a sales tax exemption on purchases of materials under a law signed by the governor.

  • June 03, 2026

    Derailment Litigants Say Flawed Tests Should Undo EPA Deal

    A pair of Ohio residents want a federal court to reject or significantly revise a proposed $350 million settlement between Norfolk Southern and the federal government over the 2023 East Palestine derailment, contending the deal was built on the flawed premise that the fiery train wreck and chemical spill did not leave behind significant contamination.

  • June 03, 2026

    4th Circ. Scraps Order Blocking Chemours PFAS Dumping

    The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday wiped out an injunction blocking the Chemours Co. FC LLC from discharging forever chemicals into the Ohio River, finding the environmental group spearheading a Clean Water Act suit against the company failed to show irreparable harm.

  • June 03, 2026

    Okla. Gov. Vetoes Solar Power Property Tax Break Exclusion

    Oklahoma's governor pocket vetoed a bill that would have excluded solar power companies and battery energy storage systems from a property tax exemption for manufacturing facilities.

  • June 02, 2026

    Feds Blocked From Divesting Wyo. Facility Stewardship

    A Colorado federal judge ruled that a Wyoming supercomputing facility used for atmospheric research must stay under a consortium of 129 universities' care pending litigation over the National Science Foundation's decision to divest the consortium of stewardship, saying the NSF failed to explain its decision and effectively ignored public comments.

  • June 02, 2026

    Feds Say Lejeune Plaintiffs Seek Billion-Dollar 'Windfall'

    The federal government has told a North Carolina federal court that Camp Lejeune litigants are trying to rewrite the 2022 federal law that allowed them to recover damages from their exposure to toxic water on the base to give them a "windfall" of billions of dollars.

  • June 02, 2026

    Lowndes Launches Homebuilding, Development Team

    Florida-based law firm Lowndes has established a new group that focuses on "the transactional and regulatory matters that shape residential development," the firm announced Tuesday.

  • June 02, 2026

    Aspiration Co-Founder Gets 14 Yrs In $248M Fraud Scheme

    Joseph Sanberg, co-founder of the now defunct, celebrity-backed and sustainability-focused financial services company Aspiration Partners, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison by a California federal judge, stemming from a years-long scheme where he defrauded more than 130 victims of at least $248 million. 

  • June 02, 2026

    Calif. Fights Federal Moves To Nix Its Truck Emissions Regs

    California's air pollution regulator has told a federal judge that Congress and the Trump administration violated separation of powers and federalism principles by passing unlawful resolutions blocking state emissions regulations for heavy-duty trucks, arguing the regulations should still take effect.

  • June 02, 2026

    Wash. Panel OKs Challenges To Seattle's Comprehensive Plan

    A Washington state appeals panel Monday revived a pair of challenges to an environmental impact statement published as part of Seattle's comprehensive plan for the city's next two decades of growth, ruling that the challenges aren't barred by recent state laws encouraging the construction of more housing.

  • June 02, 2026

    Green Groups Challenge EPA Chemical Leak Rules

    Environmental and public health groups are challenging softened monitoring and reporting requirements for chemical manufacturing facilities.

  • June 02, 2026

    EV Co. Hit With Investor Suit Over Sales And Deliveries

    Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group Inc. was hit with a proposed investor class action alleging that the company made misleading statements about its production and sales before revealing an issue with a supplier was affecting vehicle deliveries, adding to the list of shareholder litigation it faces over production.

Expert Analysis

  • AI Regulatory Gaps May Fuel FCA Enforcement Action

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    The intersection of artificial intelligence and False Claims Act enforcement presents legal risk for government contractors across several industries, particularly in the absence of a federal regulatory framework explicitly governing its development and use, say attorneys at O’Melveny.

  • AI Agents Will Test The Bounds Of Expert Witness Rules

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    Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence does not address whether a testifying expert must be human, but as the rule’s amended admissibility framework intersects with the accelerating capabilities of agentic AI, courts may be forced to confront whether AI-generated expertise fits within existing evidentiary doctrine, says Steven Cordero at Akerman.

  • What New PFAS Rule Means For Tracking And Disclosure

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    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's publication of its rule adding PFHxS-Na to the Toxics Release Inventory, companies should identify this substance in their facilities and supply chains, and prepare for disclosures to both regulators and the public, says Ayodeji Ayolola at Gordon Rees.

  • Reel Justice: 'Project Hail Mary' Can Aid Cross-Examination

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    In the new science fiction film, "Project Hail Mary," a character understood that survival depended on eliminating ambiguity — a useful lesson that trial lawyers can implement by asking statements that are delivered in the form of a question during cross-examination, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

  • AI-Proofing Class Action Notices From Pro Se Objection Surge

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    Class action practitioners should prepare for a likely surge in artificial intelligence-enabled pro se objections by implementing several practical strategies to navigate this shift, says Britany Wessan at Almeida Law Group.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • What Jury Holdouts Can Teach Trial Lawyers About Strategy

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    Though a hung jury can be a disappointment, a psychological understanding of jury holdouts can help trial lawyers shape their damages arguments and understand leadership and group composition as a function of jury selection, says Clint Townson at Townson Litigation.

  • 'Mobile' Sources For On-Site Generation May Be A Risky Bet

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering treating large on-site generators used at data centers as mobile rather than stationary sources under the Clean Air Act, a significant policy change that would leave developers that adopt this solution at risk of regulatory reversals, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • EPA Listing Signals New Scrutiny Of Drugs In Drinking Water

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    The recent publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's latest draft drinking water contaminant list highlights pharmaceuticals as a category of concern, marking the start of a process that could shape future research priorities, monitoring requirements, and federal and state actions, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • Md. Justices' State Climate Tort Ban May Shape National Path

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    The Maryland Supreme Court’s recent ruling that federal law preempted state-level deceptive marketing tort claims brought by several municipalities could offer the U.S. Supreme Court a road map to use in the pending Suncor Energy v. Boulder County case to exclude states from the business of regulating global emissions, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

  • Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

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    While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

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