Analysis

Spain Cert Denial Clears A Path, But Creditors Face Hurdles

By Caroline Simson

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week not to review a D.C. Circuit decision laying a path to enforce more than $400 million in arbitral awards against Spain has removed a jurisdictional hurdle for other similarly situated creditors, but other sticking points in the cases are likely to remain.

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Fed. Circ. Wary Of Both Sides In DOE Breach Damages Row

By Madeline Lyskawa

A panel of the Federal Circuit on Tuesday appeared skeptical of both sides' arguments concerning whether a $145 million judgment for three nuclear power plant owners over the U.S. Department of Energy's continued failure to accept spent nuclear fuel for disposal should be offset by the companies' investment earnings.

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Judge Defends Decision Keeping Paraquat Cases In Philly

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Philadelphia judge who blocked a bid to move several of the paraquat Parkinson's Disease mass tort cases out of the city is standing by his ruling, recommending that the Pennsylvania Superior Court adopt his rejection of the companies' arguments to the contrary in its appellate review of the case.

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Exxon Seeks $324M Judgment In Dispute On Qatar Deal Tax

By Asha Glover

Exxon asked a Texas federal court to rule that it's owed a $273 million tax refund and $51 million in penalties in a dispute with the U.S. government over the tax treatment of a natural gas deal with Qatar.

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Brief

Algerian Wire Rod Facing US Countervailing Duty

By Jack McLoone

Carbon and alloy steel wire from Algeria is facing a possible countervailing duty after the U.S. Department of Commerce on Tuesday preliminarily found it to be benefiting from government subsidies.

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EEOC Says Exxon's Delayed Disclosures Warrant Sanctions

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said ExxonMobil held onto critical information until the last minute in a lawsuit alleging the company didn't properly handle the discovery of nooses in an oil refinery complex, urging a Louisiana federal court to bar the company from using the eleventh-hour materials.

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Del. Chancery Dismisses World Energy's Air Products Suit

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court dismissed a lawsuit by World Energy LLC seeking to force Air Products and Chemicals Inc. to resume work on a stalled $2 billion sustainable aviation fuel project, ruling that World Energy repeatedly failed to meet its own payment obligations and therefore could not compel Air Products to continue performing under the parties' agreements.

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Consultant Says FARA Verdict Should Be Erased

By Rose Krebs

A political consultant convicted of knowingly failing to register as a foreign agent as she helped draft a $50 million contract involving a former congressman and Venezuela's state-owned oil enterprise continues to argue she should be acquitted or given a new trial, saying the verdict was "against the great weight of the evidence."

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Nevada Solar Plant Gets OK For Ch. 11 Wind-Down Plan

By Rick Archer

A Delaware bankruptcy judge Tuesday approved the wind-down plan of a Nevada solar plant operator after hearing creditors dropped their request to appoint a trustee to investigate the company's management.

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Orrick-Led Nuclear Fuel Company Targets $356M IPO

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Standard Nuclear, which makes fuel for small modular reactors across the U.S., unveiled plans on Tuesday for an estimated $356 million initial public offering steered by Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.

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GM, Drivers Tell 6th Circ. Opt-Outs Delaying $150M Settlement

By Susan Smiley

General Motors and class members who secured a $150 million settlement in a class action over alleged fire risks in the Chevrolet Bolt on Tuesday asked the Sixth Circuit not to let a small group of drivers opt out of the deal — or hold it up in their attempts to do so.

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Cadillac Lyriq Drivers Plan To Move EV Defect Suit To Mich.

By Jonathan Capriel

Cadillac Lyriq owners from six states have dropped their proposed class action against General Motors that claims it sold luxury electric vehicles with defects that cause the SUV to become inoperable, with the counsel for the drivers saying they intend to move the case to Michigan.

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Feds Say Delay Undercuts Bid To Halt Mojave Mine Restart

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Department of the Interior is fighting a bid by the National Parks Association to block a decision to renew gold mining within the Mojave National Preserve, telling a California district court that the group's delay in challenging the action undermines its effort to establish harm.

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Why SEC Climate Rule Rescission Wouldn't End Disclosure

If the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent proposal to rescind its 2024 climate-related disclosure rules is adopted, companies would no longer need to prepare for the rules' specific governance, emissions, attestation, financial statement and tagging requirements, but several important constraints would remain, say attorneys at Venable.

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Ohio Fuels Litigation Funding Debate As Foreign Ban Is Enacted

By Ryan Boysen

Ohio has enacted a sweeping law that bans all foreign litigation funders from doing business in the Buckeye State, drawing praise from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and outrage from the litigation finance industry.

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ABA Seeks Trump Docs In Suit Alleging Law Firm Intimidation

By Emily Sawicki

The Trump administration cannot rely on the presidential communications privilege to block disclosure of communications related to allegations that the president sought to intimidate BigLaw firms into conforming with his policy initiatives, the American Bar Association told a D.C. federal judge.

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Trump's SDNY Pick Steps In As Clayton Focuses On DC

By Pete Brush

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's pick to succeed him, James McDonald, will assume a leadership role as Clayton works on his own nomination for director of national intelligence in Washington.

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Judge Says Warning 'Sufficient Deterrent,' Nixing AI Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

A Kentucky federal judge has declined to sanction two attorneys who filed a brief that included errors generated by artificial intelligence amid a fraud case against a notary public, finding the lawyers had no history of misconduct and had shown sufficient remorse.

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Wis. Judge Avoids Prison Time In ICE Obstruction Sentence

By Nate Beck

A former Wisconsin state judge on Wednesday was fined $5,000 but will not serve prison time for obstructing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest of a defendant in her courtroom by directing him down a private hallway away from agents before he was later captured.

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Del. Judge Recuses Herself From Apollo $570M Payout Suit

By Katryna Perera

The Delaware vice chancellor presiding over litigation regarding a $570 million payout to Apollo Global Management Inc. insiders has disqualified herself from the case after a possible conflict of interest arose due to her former role as an attorney with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, which was involved in a merger with ties to the payout.

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Ga. Judge Rejects UPS Plaintiff's Bid To Force Recusal

By Madison Arnold

A Georgia federal judge reportedly disciplined for having sexual intercourse in her chambers and attending a political event has opted not to recuse herself in the case of a former UPS employee in his dismissed racial discrimination lawsuit.

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McCarter Trial Judge Has 'Serious Doubts' About NY Expert

By Brian Steele

The Hartford judge presiding over a $22.5 million lawsuit against McCarter & English LLP and a former partner said Wednesday he had "serious doubts" about allowing testimony from a defense expert, but let him proceed as long as he did not claim to interpret New York law.

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Morgan & Morgan Malpractice Fight Won't Get Another Review

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals has rejected Morgan & Morgan PA's bid to challenge a trial court ruling denying the firm's summary judgment motion in a legal malpractice case brought against it by clients seeking representation in a personal injury action.

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Day Pitney Can't Be Cut Off From New Counsel, Client Says

By Aaron Keller

A former Connecticut chief justice's ethics gaffe cannot preclude fellow lawyers at Day Pitney LLP from communicating with new counsel for John B. Clinton, a private equity management firm owner locked in a 13-year-old, $1.3 million corporate windup lawsuit, Clinton has urged a Connecticut state court judge to conclude.

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