Analysis

Developers Stumped By Energy Credits' Foreign Debt Limits

By Kat Lucero

Developers seeking to finalize projects financed with clean energy tax credits and several loans are hitting a roadblock in demonstrating to the IRS that their debt has limited ties to prohibited foreign entities, a requirement for qualifying for the incentives.

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High Court Reopens Review Of DOE Furnace Efficiency Rules

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a D.C. Circuit decision that upheld Biden-era energy efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters and ordered the circuit court to take another look in light of the Trump administration's intent to revise the rules.

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DC Judge Undoes IRS Wind, Solar Tax Credit Limitations

By Ganesh Setty

A D.C. federal judge has vacated an Internal Revenue Service notice limiting how wind and large-scale solar projects can qualify for two Biden-era clean energy tax credits, finding the Trump administration didn't sufficiently consider reliance interests and explain its rationale for the change.

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High Court Won't Let Pa. AG Enter Grid Project Suit

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a plea from Pennsylvania's attorney general to let him intervene in Third Circuit proceedings that allowed an electricity transmission project to proceed despite having been rejected by state utility regulators.

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Ohio Justices Back $29M Duke Energy Gas Rate Increase

By Aaron Keller

Duke Energy Ohio Inc. can raise natural gas distribution rates to offset roughly $29 million tied to the retirement of man-made underground propane storage caverns used since the late 1950s to supply customers during spikes in demand, the Ohio Supreme Court has ruled.

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Ukrainian Bank Says Russia Can't Dodge $1.1B Award Suit

By Joyce Hanson

A Ukrainian bank has asked a D.C. federal judge not to dismiss its suit to enforce a $1.1 billion arbitral award against Russia, saying that in the dispute over jurisdiction the court need only decide that a bilateral investment treaty between the parties is valid.

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DC Circ. Backs FERC Rejection Of Grid-Planning Deal

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was allowed to reject a proposal by PJM transmission owners that would've allowed the regional grid operator to make grid-planning decisions without the approval of its members committee over an issue with a single amendment, the D.C. Circuit has said.

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SF Sues DOE Over Clean Energy Grant's Anti-Diversity Terms

By Dorothy Atkins

San Francisco hit the Energy Department with a lawsuit in California federal court Friday, alleging the Trump administration is trying to coerce the city to impose contradictory and legally questionable anti-equity policy funding conditions or else face $130,000 cuts in clean energy infrastructure grants awarded to the city.

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Ariz. Authorizes Special Tax Districts To Fund Infrastructure

By Zak Kostro

Arizona authorized the formation of special taxing districts to fund infrastructure projects with revenue from property taxes and other sources under a bill signed by the governor.

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Spain Says DOJ Downplays Sovereigns' Risks In Awards Feud

By Caroline Simson

Spain told the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that the Trump administration's recent brief urging the justices not to disturb a D.C. Circuit opinion greenlighting litigation to enforce more than $400 million in arbitral awards nevertheless "largely confirms" that its sovereign immunity defense deserves a second look.

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Former Electric Utility Exec Can Continue With Bias Suit

By Emily Brill

A North Carolina electric utility must continue facing claims that it passed over a Black executive for company president because of his race, a North Carolina federal judge ruled, trimming the former executive's suit in response to the utility's dismissal motion but preserving the central allegations.

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Conn. Expands Solar Energy System Tax, Limits Exemption

By Zak Kostro

Connecticut expanded the scope of a tax on solar energy systems and limited a property tax exemption for solar energy facilities under a bill signed by the governor.

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Shoals Solar Patent Dispute Kept Alive By NC Judge

By Adam Lidgett

A North Carolina federal judge has refused to find that three Shoals Technologies Group solar energy patents were unenforceable in the company's infringement suit but said the court would keep certain issues in mind should the case result in a damages verdict.

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Archer Can't Ditch Trimmed Joby Air Taxi Trade Secrets Suit

By Linda Chiem

A California federal judge has said Joby Aviation can forge ahead with a pared-down lawsuit alleging rival electric air taxi developer Archer Aviation misappropriated its trade secrets, but has tossed Archer's "shotgun pleadings" counterclaims alleging Joby misclassified imports to evade tariffs and concealed its China ties.

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Energy Transactions Atty Returns To McGuireWoods In SF

By Tracey Read

A senior vice president with Aon's global mergers and acquisitions and transactions solutions team has rejoined McGuireWoods LLP as a partner in San Francisco, the firm announced Monday.

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Gibson Dunn, PE Firm Pay Charity $1M For Knicks VIP Seats

By Dorothy Atkins

Gibson Dunn and private equity firm Veritas Capital split the $1 million winning bid for two "Celebrity Row" seats in a Knicks fundraiser ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, the team's parent company announced Monday.

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Groom Law Joins Firms Matching New Milbank Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

Washington, D.C.-based Groom Law Group is the latest firm to match a new pay scale for associates that was set earlier this month by Milbank LLP, according to media reports Monday.

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9th Circ. Judge Faces Inquiry, Charges After Idaho Altercation

By Lauren Berg

The Ninth Circuit on Monday identified a judicial misconduct complaint against U.S. Circuit Judge Ryan D. Nelson after he was charged with misdemeanor battery stemming from an argument in an Idaho Falls parking lot that ended with him allegedly stomping a man's eyeglasses on the asphalt.

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Analysis

How A Texas Pastor Beat Mark Zuckerberg In Landmark Trial

By Craig Clough

Jurors who reached a landmark $6 million verdict in March finding Meta Platforms Inc. and Google liable for harming a teen's mental health didn't find Mark Zuckerberg credible, an impression that the plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier credited to putting the well-prepared executive off his guard.

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King & Spalding May Be Sanctioned In $300M Fraud Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

Two King & Spalding LLP partners face a sanctions hearing in a $300 million fraud lawsuit to determine whether they violated a rule requiring candor to the tribunal by falsely claiming attorneys for other parties were copied on letters to two Connecticut jurists, according to two state court orders.

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Another Lawmaker Joins Impeachment Push For Ga. Judge

By Courtney Bublé

A Republican House member on Monday introduced articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia after she was reprimanded for having sex with a police officer in her chambers within earshot of staff.

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Colorado Gov. Signs Bill Banning Fee Sharing With Non-Attys

By Emma Cueto

Colorado has enacted a ban on lawyers sharing fees with nonlawyer-owned firms, such as alternative businesses in Arizona, as well as a prohibition on deals with managed services organizations that involve paying a percentage of firm income.

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Brief

Todd Blanche Officially Nominated To Be AG

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Monday officially nominated Todd Blanche to be attorney general.

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Trump Taps DC Appeals Court Picks To Fill Final Vacancies

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced two picks for the D.C. Court of Appeals, which will fill the remaining vacancies on the District of Columbia's top court.

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Mich. Dems Back Trump Judicial Pick After Blue-Slip Review

By Courtney Bublé

Michigan's Democratic U.S. senators, Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, announced on Monday they've returned their blue slips for the nomination of Michael Martin, a veteran career prosecutor, to be a judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.

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Chapman Law School Dean Says He Was Fired For Being Gay

By Hailey Konnath

The former dean of Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law says the university unlawfully fired him because he's gay and married to a man, according to a complaint filed in California state court.

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NJ Senators Advance Litigation Funding Disclosure Bill

By Carla Baranauckas

New Jersey state senators on Monday advanced legislation that would require disclosure of third-party litigation funding agreements over the objections of trial lawyers and litigation finance representatives, who warned that the bill could discourage funding for plaintiffs involved in costly cases.

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Law Student's Kirk Comment Discipline Stays During Appeal

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Monday kept intact a reprimand against a law student who allegedly celebrated following the death of Charlie Kirk during an appeal, saying that the student "again seeks the wrong remedy" in her request.

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100+ Ex-Prosecutors Question Chicago US Atty's Leadership

By Celeste Bott

More than 100 former Illinois federal prosecutors issued a statement Monday saying there's been a "failure of leadership" in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago and that "once-forbidden political considerations are infecting prosecutorial decisions" in the wake of an Illinois federal judge accusing the office of mishandling grand jury proceedings in a case against six immigration activists.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein's Sentencing Delayed To July

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge has agreed to push SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's sentencing to July, after federal prosecutors speculated that his defense attorneys might come to the previously scheduled June hearing and declare that they aren't ready to proceed.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Elizabeth Cabraser

By Emily Field

When Elizabeth Cabraser began working with Robert Lieff as a clerk at his small practice in Northern California in the late 1970s, fresh out of law school, her job was to help him dispose of his remaining cases so he could retire early and become a winemaker.

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