Environmental

  • July 09, 2025

    3M PFAS Suit Belongs In State Court, Conn. Tells 2nd Circ.

    Connecticut is urging the Second Circuit to reject 3M Co.'s effort to move a state court lawsuit accusing the company of polluting the environment with forever chemicals contained in its consumer products to federal court.

  • July 09, 2025

    5 Years Ago, The McGirt Ruling Reshaped Tribal Jurisdiction

    It was widely held for decades that Oklahoma had domain over criminal matters on tribal lands, but five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court turned that regime on its head, finding 19th century federal treaties with the Creek Nation that formed its reservation are valid — and, in turn, reestablishing 45% of the Sooner State as Indian Country.

  • July 09, 2025

    Mass. Cos. Must Keep Bottled Water Flowing In PFAS Case

    A Massachusetts federal judge has ordered defendant companies to keep providing bottled water to residents of Westminster, Massachusetts, maintaining the status quo while the court determines whether those companies have made the residents' tap water sufficiently safe from so-called forever chemicals.

  • July 08, 2025

    Grocer's Octopus In Olive Oil Also Comes With Lead, Suit Says

    Natural grocery store chain Lazy Acres has been selling a tinned "octopus in olive oil" product that also contains lead in violation of California's Proposition 65, according to a suit lodged in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday.

  • July 08, 2025

    'Tiger King' Star 'Doc' Antle Sentenced For Wildlife Trafficking

    Bhagavan "Doc" Antle, a star of the Netflix docuseries "Tiger King," was sentenced Tuesday to one year in prison and ordered to give up three chimpanzees, having pled guilty in South Carolina federal court to wildlife trafficking and money laundering.

  • July 08, 2025

    Fla. Distorted Detention Center Construction, Group Says

    An environmental nonprofit claimed in Florida federal court filings Tuesday it has evidence additional land in the Everglades is being used to construct a federal immigration detention center, alleging a misrepresentation from Florida officials that the camp is built on the footprint of an existing airport structure.

  • July 08, 2025

    5th Circ. Wary To Let Surety Stick Chevron With $11M Bill

    A Fifth Circuit panel seemed skeptical of a surety company's argument that BP and Chevron need to pony up $11 million to pay for decommissioning costs, asking Tuesday what to do with contractual language that seemingly absolved them of having to pay that bill.

  • July 08, 2025

    Product Liability Cases To Watch In 2nd Half Of 2025

    The fate of a $2.5 billion punitive damages award against Ford and looming bench verdicts in the first PFAS trials brought by a state are among the cases that product liability attorneys will be following closely in the second half of 2025.

  • July 08, 2025

    Trump Declares 50% Copper Tariff, Floats 200% Pharma Tariff

    President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will impose a new 50% tariff on copper imported into the U.S., while also raising the possibility of imposing a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals.

  • July 08, 2025

    Wash. Seafood Plant, Steel Shop Slapped With CWA Suits

    Environmental groups launched a pair of Clean Water Act lawsuits in Washington federal court on Tuesday accusing an Evergreen State seafood producer and specialty machinery firm of releasing pollutants into local waterways in violation of state and federal permitting regulations.

  • July 08, 2025

    Del. Judge Cuts Co-Plaintiff From $57M Refined Coal IP Suit

    A co-plaintiff alongside Midwest Energy Emissions Corp. cannot share in a $57 million award from a jury that found patents on technology for refining coal to reduce mercury emissions from power plants were infringed, with a Delaware federal judge ruling on Tuesday the other company lacks standing.

  • July 08, 2025

    Mich. Judge Certifies Edenville Dam Flood Victim Classes

    A Michigan claims court judge has certified classes of businesses and residents affected by flooding from the collapse of a hydroelectric dam, ahead of a January trial to determine if state agencies are liable for the disaster. 

  • July 08, 2025

    States Back Enviro Orgs. Bid To Block EPA's Halt Of $3B Grant

    A group of Democratic attorneys general on Monday told a D.C. federal district court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to terminate environmental justice grants deprives vulnerable communities of funding "necessary to achieve a healthy environment."

  • July 08, 2025

    Judge Halts Plan To Slash AmeriCorps Workforce, Funding

    A Maryland federal judge determined that the Trump administration must reinstate hundreds of AmeriCorps employees and restore $400 million in funding and grants to nonprofits, saying public interest and a balance of equities favor a preliminary injunction.

  • July 08, 2025

    Insurer, Guam School Settle Typhoon Coverage Fight

    The owner of a high school in Guam and its property insurer resolved their coverage dispute over the owner's claims the insurer underpaid its more than $5.1 million typhoon damage claim in bad faith, in part through allegedly "causing delay," the parties told a Guam federal court.

  • July 08, 2025

    Tax Court Says IRS Offer In $57M Easement Case Isn't Binding

    A settlement offer the Internal Revenue Service said it mistakenly made to a partnership after rejecting its $57 million conservation easement deduction is not binding, the U.S. Tax Court said Tuesday, declining the partnership's request to enforce the deal.

  • July 08, 2025

    Everglades Plan Won't Spoil Buddhist Temple, Fla. Court Told

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers urged a Florida federal court Tuesday to toss a Buddhist temple's claims alleging that an Everglades restoration project is disrupting members' ability to peacefully meditate, arguing that the complaint came too late and that construction isn't coercing a change in their religious practices.

  • July 08, 2025

    Environmental Regulations To Watch In 2025: Midyear Report

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it is planning big changes to existing regulations and policies, including possibly rescinding its finding that greenhouse gases pose a danger to people's health and rolling back standards for forever chemicals. Here are some of the biggest regulatory matters to watch in the second half of 2025.

  • July 08, 2025

    Trump Admin Backs Off Plan To Revisit Biden Asbestos Ban

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday told the Fifth Circuit it's not going to revise a Biden-era rule strengthening restrictions on asbestos use, and asked the court to restart litigation challenging the Biden rule.

  • July 08, 2025

    High Court Allows Trump's Gov't Cuts And Restructuring

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the Trump administration can move forward with its plans for large-scale layoffs and reorganizations at various federal departments and agencies, lifting a California federal judge's order that had paused the efforts while a legal challenge continues.

  • July 08, 2025

    Oil Cos.' Water Pollution Coverage Suit Gets Trimmed

    Two oil and gas companies can't proceed with bad faith claims against certain underwriters at Lloyd's of London in a dispute over coverage for the remediation of water byproduct pollution, a New Mexico federal court ruled, saying the companies failed to allege facts supporting their claims.

  • July 08, 2025

    Fishing Industry Alleges Feds Allow Red Snapper Overfishing

    A group of commercial fishers and buyers is claiming in a new lawsuit that the National Marine Fisheries Service has failed to set proper catch limits and allowed the overfishing of red snapper due to massive "dead discards." 

  • July 08, 2025

    Michigan Halts Construction Code Rollout Amid Builders' Suit

    Michigan has paused the implementation of a new residential construction code after homebuilders filed lawsuits claiming the adoption of the code violated state law and would drive up the price of homes. 

  • July 07, 2025

    Trump Orders Treasury To Restrain Solar, Wind Tax Credits

    President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday to begin carrying out cuts and restrictions to the solar and wind production and investment tax credits that were mandated in the budget bill Trump signed Friday.

  • July 07, 2025

    Calif. Coastal Agency Gets SpaceX Launch Suit Trimmed

    A California federal judge has trimmed SpaceX's suit alleging the California Coastal Commission wrongly tried to block its plan to increase rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, saying the reworked complaint adequately alleges some, but not all, of the purported harms the company faces.

Expert Analysis

  • How Cos. Can Mitigate Increasing Microplastics Liability Risk

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    Amid rising scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe of microplastics' impact on health and the growing threat of litigation against consumer product and food and beverage manufacturers, companies can limit liability through compliance with labeling laws, careful contract management and other practices, say attorneys at Rogers Joseph.

  • Strategizing For Renewable Energy Project Success In Texas

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    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has long been a key market for renewable energy projects, but rising financial and regulatory uncertainty means that developers and investors must prepare for inflation and policy risks, secure robust insurance coverage, and leverage tax equity transferability to ensure success, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process

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    The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.

  • How Latin American Finance Markets May Shift Under Trump

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    Changes in the federal government are bringing profound implications for Latin American financial institutions and cross-border financing, including increased competition from U.S. banks, volatility in equity markets and stable green investor demand despite deregulation in the U.S., says David Contreiras Tyler at Womble Bond.

  • Series

    Improv Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Improv keeps me grounded and connected to what matters most, including in my legal career where it has helped me to maintain a balance between being analytical, precise and professional, and creative, authentic and open-minded, says Justine Gottshall at InfoLawGroup.

  • How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms

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    Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Opinion

    Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital

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    Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition

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    Professionals seeking to transition to nonattorney careers may encounter skepticism as nontraditional candidates, but there are opportunities for thought leadership and to leverage speaking and writing to accelerate a post-attorney career transition, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Evgeny Efremkin at Toronto Metropolitan University.

  • Key Takeaways From The 2025 Spring Antitrust Meeting

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    Leadership changes, shifting priorities and evolving enforcement tools dominated the conversation at the recent American Bar Association Spring Antitrust Meeting, as panelists explored competition policy under a second Trump administration, agency discretion under the 2023 merger guidelines and new frontiers in conduct enforcement, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • What PFAS-Treated Clothing Tariff Bill Would Mean For Cos.

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    In keeping with a nationwide trend of greater restrictions on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, legislation pending in the U.S. House of Representatives would remove tariff advantages for PFAS-treated clothing — so businesses would be wise to proactively adapt their supply chains and review contracts to mitigate liability, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Be An Indispensable Associate

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    While law school teaches you to research, write and think critically, it often overlooks the professional skills you will need to make yourself an essential team player when transitioning from a summer to full-time associate, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • What 2nd Trump Admin Means For Ship Pollution Compliance

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    As the second Trump administration's civil and criminal enforcement policies take shape, the maritime industry must ensure it complies with both national and international obligations to prevent oil pollution from seagoing vessels — with preventive efforts and voluntary disclosures being some of the best options for mitigating risk, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Mass. AG Emerges As Key Player In Consumer Protection

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    Through enforcement actions and collaborations with other states — including joining a recent amicus brief decrying the defunding of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell has established herself as a thought leader for consumer protection and corporate accountability, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Series

    Birding Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Observing and documenting birds in their natural habitats fosters patience, sharpens observational skills and provides moments of pure wonder — qualities that foster personal growth and enrich my legal career, says Allison Raley at Arnall Golden.

  • What Cos. Should Know About U.S. Minerals Executive Order

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    President Donald Trump's new executive order aimed at boosting U.S. mineral production faces challenges including land use and environmental regulations, a lack of new funding, and the need for coordination among federal agencies, but it provides industry stakeholders with multiple opportunities to influence policy and funding, say advisers at Holland & Knight.

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