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Environmental
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May 14, 2024
Feds Dodge Salt Lake City's Suit Over $1B Gondola Plan
A Utah federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the federal government from a Salt Lake City lawsuit challenging federal approvals of a $1 billion plan to address traffic congestion by building the world's longest gondola.
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May 14, 2024
States, Elec. Co-Op Seek To Block EPA Power Plant GHG Rule
A group of 25 red states and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association asked the D.C. Circuit to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from implementing its new power plant greenhouse gas emissions rule while they challenge its legality.
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May 14, 2024
DC Circ. Upholds EPA's Renewable Fuel Standards
A divided D.C. Circuit panel upheld on Tuesday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuel standards for 2020, 2021 and 2022, rejecting renewable fuel producers' claims the standards are too low, and petroleum refiners' contentions that they are too high.
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May 14, 2024
Plant Gas Emissions Suit Tossed For Lack Of Injury Standing
A West Virginia federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action alleging a plant operated by Union Carbide Corp. and Covestro LLC emitted carcinogenic gas and increased the likelihood of cancer in nearby residents, finding the claim of injury too speculative to support the case.
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May 14, 2024
Firms Escape Malpractice Suit Over Chicken Plant Pollution
Baird Mandalas Brockstedt & Federico LLC and Schochor Staton Goldberg and Cardea PA have escaped a malpractice suit filed in Delaware Superior Court by parents who hired the firms to pursue claims alleging contamination from a Mountaire Corp. chicken plant caused "catastrophic injuries" to their child.
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May 14, 2024
Carbon Capture Co.'s $1.8B SPAC Deal Sparks Chancery Suit
Stockholders who lost big after a blank-check company took carbon-capture venture LanzaTech NZ Inc. public in a purportedly $1.8 billion reverse-merger in February 2023 have sued for damages in Delaware's Court of Chancery, alleging disclosure failures and other defects prior to closing.
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May 14, 2024
9th Circ. Rejects Bid For Full Rehearing In Oak Flat Dispute
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday rejected a bid by an Apache nonprofit for a full judge en banc rehearing in an effort to block a copper mining company from destroying an Indigenous religious site in central Arizona known as Oak Flat, setting up the case for a U.S. Supreme Court appeal.
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May 14, 2024
Biden More Than Doubles Tariffs On Chinese EVs, Solar Cells
The U.S. will more than double tariffs on a range of Chinese goods, including electric vehicles and their batteries, steel, semiconductors and solar cells, in response to allegedly unfair trade practices and overproduction, the White House announced Monday.
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May 13, 2024
16 States Sue To Block Calif.'s 'Clean Fleets' Rule For Trucks
Over a dozen U.S. states filed a constitutional challenge in California federal court Monday against a Golden State regulation requiring commercial truck operators to move to zero-emission electric-vehicle fleets, arguing it would disrupt the global supply chain, raise costs, and illegally enforce emission control standards, in violation of federal laws.
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May 13, 2024
Hunting Groups Want In On Gray Wolf Protections' Lawsuit
Several hunting groups have asked a Montana federal court to let them intervene in a gray wolf protection lawsuit brought by environmentalists against the U.S. Department of the Interior, saying they should get involved because their interests aren't adequately represented by the government.
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May 13, 2024
Enviro. Group Sues Feds To Stop Wash. Logging Project
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies sued the U.S. Forest Service in Washington federal court on Monday in an effort to upend the agency's final decisions to proceed with the Sxwuytn-Kaniksu Connections Trail Project for failing to take a "hard look" at the project's impacts.
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May 13, 2024
Flint Judge Threatens Sanctions After Water Firm's PR Stunt
The Michigan federal judge overseeing Flint, Michigan, water crisis cases excoriated a water engineering firm and its PR agency for apparently running a smear campaign targeting a lawyer for Flint children, saying Monday she will sanction the firm if it doesn't turn over documents about the campaign by next week.
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May 13, 2024
Utah, Oil Co. Can Enter BLM Oil Lease Challenge, Judge Says
Anschutz Exploration Corp. and Utah will get the chance to fight environmentalists' lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Land Management's decision to sell oil and gas leases on more than 200,000 acres of public land, a Utah federal judge has ruled.
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May 13, 2024
Schumer Urges FTC To Block Hess-Chevron Deal, Jabs Trump
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he was "sounding the alarm" against Chevron Corp.'s planned $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp. in a post on social media platform X, urging the Federal Trade Commission to halt the deal while criticizing former President Donald Trump for a reported meeting with oil executives.
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May 13, 2024
EPA Wrongly Approved New Chevron Chemicals, Group Says
A Mississippi community group has asked the D.C. Circuit to revoke the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's authorization for Chevron Corp. to produce 18 new chemicals derived from plastic waste "despite their extreme health risks."
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May 13, 2024
Texas Farming Couple Owe $1.9M, Tax Court Says
An oral surgeon and his wife who raised large deer and bass for hunting and ecotourism in Texas are on the hook for nearly $1.9 million in taxes, as a U.S. Tax Court decision issued Monday found that they weren't entitled to farming deductions.
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May 13, 2024
Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Can't Appeal Jury Trial Denial Order
The North Carolina federal court overseeing litigation over water contamination at the Camp Lejeune military base on Monday denied the service members' attempt to appeal an order that struck down their bid for jury trials, saying that it's not an issue that warrants appeal.
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May 13, 2024
FERC Powers Up Major Rewrite Of Grid Planning Policy
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday finalized a long-awaited overhaul of how major electric transmission projects are planned and paid for, with the agency's Republican commissioner claiming his Democratic colleagues are unlawfully favoring clean energy at the expense of state electricity authority.
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May 13, 2024
Texas, Mo. Say Border Contractors Lack Interests To Defend
Texas and Missouri have slammed contractors' attempts to defend the Biden administration's plans to use border wall construction funds to remediate existing barriers, telling a Texas federal court that the group lacks a direct interest in the case's outcome.
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May 13, 2024
High Court Won't Take Up Wyo. Wildfire Suit
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a suit by survivors of the 2018 Roosevelt wildfire in Wyoming against the U.S. Forest Service over the government's decisions in fighting the fires.
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May 10, 2024
Rivian's Cert. Oppo Not How 'Real World Works,' Judge Says
A California federal judge told Rivian's attorney Friday that his arguments opposing class certification for investors alleging the carmaker misled them on material costs appeared to say that unless a company practically admits fraud in a disclosure it's not a "corrective" disclosure, but "that is not how the real world works."
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May 10, 2024
Zeekr's US Debut Could Spur More IPOs From China
Electric-vehicle maker Zeekr's robust initial public offering sent an encouraging signal to Chinese companies considering whether to tap U.S. markets after a long lull, despite continued risks stemming from fractured U.S.-China relations, experts said Friday.
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May 10, 2024
Trade Court Lets Solar Duties Suit Proceed Over Feds' Protest
U.S. solar panel manufacturers' suit over a two-year pause on new duties for competitors from four Southeast Asian countries survived the government's push for dismissal this week, with the trade court affirming its authority over the case.
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May 10, 2024
4th Circ. Judge Suspects 'Abuse' In Land Donor Tax Case
The Fourth Circuit appeared poised Friday to rule that a couple owes taxes and penalties after claiming an inflated $5.1 million valuation on donated land for deductions, with one judge positing he believed the couple had engaged in "abuse" of a conservation donation.
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May 10, 2024
Oil Giants Say Tribal Climate Change Row Must Stay Federal
Several giant oil companies are fighting a bid by two Native American tribes to remand their consolidated case to state court, telling a Washington federal district court that the claims brought by tribes have always been governed by federal law.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Proposed MDL Management Rule Needs Refining
Proponents of the recently proposed Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 16.1 believe it may enhance efficiency in multidistrict litigation proceedings if adopted, but there are serious concerns that it could actually hinder plaintiffs' access to justice through the courts — and there are fundamental flaws that deserve our attention, says Ashleigh Raso at Nigh Goldenberg.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face
Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.
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New Eagle Take Permit Rule Should Help Wind Projects Soar
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recently issued final rule revising the eagle take permit process should help wind energy developers obtain incidental take permits through a more transparent and expedited process, and mitigate the risk of improper take penalties faced by wind projects, says Jon Micah Goeller at Husch Blackwell.
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2 Issues For Venture-Backed Climate Tech Startups To Avoid
As climate tech startups become more common, poor equity dilution management and stacked seed financing are two common pitfalls that apply more acutely to climate tech startups than to the broader venture-backed startup space, say attorneys at Goodwin.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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Takeaways From EPA's New Methane Emission Rules
Attorneys at V&E examine two new Clean Air Act rules for the oil and gas industry, explaining how they expand methane and volatile organic compound emission reduction requirements and amplify U.S. Environmental Protection Agency enforcement risks.
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3 Litigation Strategies To Combat 'Safetyism'
Amid the rise of safetyism — the idea that every person should be free from the risk of harm or discomfort — among jurors and even judges, defense counsel can mount several tactics from the very start of litigation to counteract these views and blunt the potential for jackpot damages, says Ann Marie Duffy at Hollingsworth.
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Risks Of Nonmutual Offensive Collateral Estoppel In MDLs
After the Supreme Court declined to review the Sixth Circuit's ruling in the E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. personal injury litigation, nonmutual offensive collateral estoppel could show up in more MDLs, and transform the loss of a single MDL bellwether trial into a de facto classwide decision that binds thousands of other MDL cases, say Chantale Fiebig and Luke Sullivan at Weil Gotshal.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.
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5 Things Trial Attorneys Can Learn From Good Teachers
Jennifer Cuculich at IMS Legal Strategies recounts lessons she learned during her time as a math teacher that can help trial attorneys connect with jurors, from the importance of framing core issues to the incorporation of different learning styles.
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Legal Considerations For Circular Economy Strategies
As circular economy goals — generating revenue at multiple points in a product's life cycle — become nearly ubiquitous in corporate sustainability practices, companies should reassess existing strategies by focusing on government incentives, regulations, and reporting and disclosure requirements, say Rachel Saltzman and Erin Grisby at Hunton.
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SEC's Final Climate Disclosure Rules: What Cos. Must Know
While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's scaled-back final rules requiring public companies to disclose certain climate-related information still face challenges in court, companies should begin preparing now to comply with the rules, say Celia Soehner and Erin Martin at Morgan Lewis.
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Caremark 2.0 Lends Shareholders Agency Against Polluters
The Caremark doctrine has been liberalized by recent Delaware court decisions into what some have termed a 2.0 version, making derivative cases against corporations far more plausible and invigorating oversight duty on environmental risks like toxic spills and air pollution, say Joshua Margolin and Sean Goldman-Hunt at Selendy Gay.