Analysis

High Court SEC Case Threatens FERC Fraud Clawbacks

By Keith Goldberg

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission efforts to claw back unjust profits from market frauds, a linchpin of the agency's enforcement work, face an uncertain future as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a challenge to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's disgorgement powers.

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House Panel Probes Reports Of Missing, Killed Scientists

By Craig Clough

Two Republican U.S. congressmen announced a probe Monday into reports of about a dozen scientists or government employees with ties to American nuclear and space programs who were killed or reported missing, penning letters seeking information from NASA, the Department of Energy, the FBI and the Defense Department.

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Mich. AG Fights Approval Of DTE-Oracle Data Center Plan

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan attorney general has filed two claims of appeal challenging orders from the Michigan Public Service Commission approving energy supply contracts between DTE Energy and a subsidiary of cloud-computing platform Oracle Corp. tied to a massive 1.4 gigawatt AI data center project, alleging regulators unlawfully bypassed a contested case process.

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'Risky Proposition': 9th Circ. Skeptical Of Wash. CWA Strategy

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel expressed doubt Monday about Washington's bid to revive its Clean Water Act suit against the operator of the now-shuttered Buckhorn Gold Mine, with two judges asking why the state didn't object to the operator's consent decree ending an overlapping case brought by an environmental group.

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Tariff Refund Rollout Well Received, But Concerns Persist

By Dylan Moroses

The first phase of U.S. Customs and Border Protection's tariff refund system has largely held up against the influx of importers' initial claims, though some businesses have already identified issues in complying with the process, according to trade lawyers.

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Groups Challenge BP Offshore Project Approval At 11th Circ.

By Ganesh Setty

Conservation groups petitioned the Eleventh Circuit on Monday seeking to block the Trump administration's recent approval of BP's Kaskida offshore drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico, saying Kaskida is in "riskier waters" than where the Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred.

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Conn. Regulator Hit With Suit Over Pole Attachment Rate Hike

By Nadia Dreid

Connecticut's Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has "significantly altered years of precedent" to approve a rate change that would allow Avangrid Networks Inc.'s United Illuminating Co. to charge significantly more for pole attachment rates, a trade group says in a new lawsuit.

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SPI Energy Seeks Ch. 15 Recognition Of Cayman Wind-Down

By Emily Lever

Cayman Islands-incorporated solar company SPI Energy has filed in Delaware for Chapter 15 recognition of its liquidation proceedings, saying U.S. court approval may help it conduct investigations and recover assets.

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W.Va. Trucking Co.'s Facility Counts As A 'Mine,' DC Circ. Says

By Jared Foretek

A split D.C. Circuit panel ruled that a trucking company's West Virginia facility counted as a "mine" under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act because it's within a mile of a coal plant owned by one of the trucking company's clients and is used to support the client's operations.

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CIT Directs Commerce To Be More Specific On Korean Duty

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce must be more specific in its attempt to justify its determination that a South Korean steel plate exporter was benefiting from a government subsidy on electricity, the U.S. Court of International Trade said, ordering another redetermination.

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National Parks Group Seeks To Block Mojave Mine Restart

By Crystal Owens

The National Parks Conservation Association is asking a California federal district court to block a Department of the Interior decision to renew gold mining within the Mojave National Preserve, arguing the department skirted environmental laws by reversing established policy that prioritized the desert ecosystem and Indigenous cultural area's protection.

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3 Firms Steer USA Rare Earth's $2.8B Serra Verde Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Mining company USA Rare Earth on Monday announced plans to acquire magnetic rare earth producer Serra Verde Group in a roughly $2.8 billion cash-and-stock deal that was built by three law firms.

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New Haynes Boone Atty In Houston Sees 'Venezuelan Spring'

By Lynn LaRowe

Haynes Boone announced Monday that it has brought on the former top lawyer for PetroTal Corp., deepening the firm's energy, power and natural resources group and its cross-border offerings, particularly in Venezuela.

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White & Case Partner Moves To A&O Shearman In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling has hired a career White & Case LLP partner in Washington, D.C., who had spent the past 13 years there working with antitrust and other matters, the firm announced Monday.

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Calif. Truck Regs Now Require Multiple Compliance Strategies

California's various vehicle and truck emissions programs now move on different legal tracks, impose different obligations and create different business risks on different timelines — so companies that treat them as one package subject to a federal Clean Air Act waiver risk missing deadlines and mispricing contracts, says Thierry Montoya at FBT Gibbons.

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Black McDermott Atty Says White Men Favored For Partner

By Lauren Berg

A Black female McDermott Will & Schulte attorney accused the firm of gender, race and pregnancy discrimination in a lawsuit lodged in California state court, saying she has been consistently bypassed for promotion by less-experienced white attorneys and was yanked off casework after taking medical leave following a life-threatening illness during pregnancy.

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'Kind Of Lawyering We Don't Like': Judge Rips Quinn Emanuel

By Bonnie Eslinger

Guardant Health Inc. urged a California federal judge on Monday to make Quinn Emanuel pay nearly $1.3 million on top of $3 million in sanctions already imposed over misrepresentations lawyers made representing its rival Natera Inc., prompting the judge to criticize Quinn Emanuel lawyers for making distinctions so fine they veer into misrepresentation.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Fish & Richardson's Nitika Gupta Fiorella

By Dani Kass

Fish & Richardson PC principal Nitika Gupta Fiorella is "a no-stone-unturned, always super prepared" lawyer who "epitomizes professionalism and respect," according to Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP partner Cora Holt.

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Fox Lawyer In Dominion Case Confirmed To Texas Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 47-46 Monday evening to confirm Andrew Davis, a partner at Lehotsky Keller Cohn LLP who defended Fox News in the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case, to serve on the bench in the Western District of Texas.

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Justices Won't Consider IP Theft Allegations Against Akin

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a former Cornell University graduate student's petition trying to revive his malpractice suit against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP stemming from patent litigation against Illumina Inc. over DNA sequencing intellectual property.

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DC Ethics Office Says Ex-Interim US Atty Can't Remove Case

By Emily Sawicki

Washington, D.C., ethics officials have asked a federal court to send U.S. Department of Justice official Ed Martin's ethics case back to the D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, arguing the D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction over a disciplinary matter, which is neither a civil action nor a criminal prosecution.

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Ex-Newman Clerks, Judges Back High Court Suspension Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A group of former clerks for Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, as well as former federal judges, have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the challenge to her suspension imposed by her colleagues.

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Insurer Intentionally Avoiding $200M Loan Claim, Court Told

By Hope Patti

A litigation funding firm has accused its insurer of wrongfully refusing to pay out its policy's guaranteed $200 million in coverage for an unpaid loan, saying the insurer buried it in duplicative and burdensome information requests to avoid paying a valid claim.

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Judge Says Ill. Justices Can't Fire Him Over MAGA Op-Ed

By Jack Karp

Illinois Supreme Court justices have no authority to remove a state judge from the bench for alleged misconduct, so their effort to dismiss a retired state trial judge's claims that his removal for penning a political opinion column violated his constitutional rights should be rejected, the retired jurist has said.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week delivered another mix of procedural rulings, fiduciary duty disputes and deal litigation, highlighting both the court's gatekeeping role and its continued focus on stockholder rights and transactional fairness.

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