Justices Unsure Climate Lawsuits Are A Constitutional Matter

By Keith Goldberg

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared reluctant to endorse the argument that climate change lawsuits brought by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies are constitutionally prohibited, even as they questioned whether such lawsuits can be sustained.

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Analysis

Justices Fret Any Climate Tort Ruling Will Open Pandora's Box

By Jeff Overley

U.S. Supreme Court justices Monday pondered the risks of far-reaching fallout whether they allow or restrict burgeoning lawsuits targeting oil companies, acknowledging fears of near-limitless litigation but also struggling to distinguish climate torts from famous legal battles involving tobacco and opioids.

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Youths Lose Bid To Stay Nix Of GHG Endangerment Finding

By Tom Lotshaw

A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday denied youth plaintiffs' request to stay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's repeal of a landmark finding that greenhouse gas pollution endangers people's health while they pursue a legal challenge.

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Brief

Colo. Judge Says Wyoming Can Join Oil Lease Sale Challenge

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado federal judge Monday granted Wyoming's request to be added to an environmental nonprofit groups' lawsuit challenging the leasing of public lands in Colorado and Wyoming for oil and gas development as an intervenor defendant.

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3 Firms Steer $5.7B Cenovus, Athabasca Canadian Oil Deal

By Al Barbarino

Canada's Cenovus Energy Inc. has agreed to acquire Athabasca Oil Corp. in a cash-and-stock transaction with an implied enterprise value of $5.7 billion, expanding Cenovus' access to oil-sands deposits in northeastern Alberta, the companies announced Monday.

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No Consensus On Forced Labor Statement At G20 Meeting

By Jack McLoone

The Group of 20 nations failed to reach a consensus on a statement highlighting the need to eliminate imports of goods created with forced labor, with solely the U.S., Argentina and Mexico backing a document calling forced labor both a human rights and economic threat.

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Justices Won't Disturb BP, Chevron Win In Well Cleanup Fight

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to disturb a ruling dismissing a surety company's lawsuit claiming BP and Chevron needed to pony up $11 million to pay for offshore decommissioning costs.

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Supreme Court Won't Hear Venezuela Rig Seizure Case

By Caroline Simson

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a D.C. Circuit opinion ordering Venezuela's state-owned oil company to face long-pending allegations of unlawfully seizing an Oklahoma-based oil drilling company's rigs.

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Oil Giants Seek 2029 Trial In Wash. Tribes' Climate Harm Suits

By Ben Adlin

Oil giants Exxon, Chevron, Shell and others are at odds with two Native American tribes over when to schedule a trial in the tribes' consolidated lawsuits in Washington state court accusing the companies of downplaying the risks of climate harm.

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Pause Mulled In $50B Yukos, Russia Award Case

By Caroline Simson

A D.C. federal court on Monday ordered former shareholders of Yukos Oil Co. owed some $50 billion by Russia to explain why their enforcement suit should not be stayed while the parties await the D.C. Circuit's decision in a parallel case that raises an identical underlying issue.

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Gas Co. Plans Challenge To Arbitral Award In Moldova Feud

By Caroline Simson

A Liechtensteiner natural gas utility said Monday that it is "considering immediate legal actions" to set aside an arbitral award favoring Moldova in a dispute over allegedly unfair tariffs and other actions that restricted the utility's access to Moldova's natural gas network. 

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Latham-Led Energy Capital Wraps $834M Continuation Fund

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Energy transition infrastructure-focused private equity shop Energy Capital Partners, advised by Latham & Watkins LLP, on Monday revealed that it closed a single-asset continuation vehicle with $834 million in tow, which will be used for its investment in energy company Next Wave Energy Partners LP.

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Tribe, Enviros Say Utility Flouted Nebraska Power Line Block

By Crystal Owens

Conservation groups and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe are asking a district court to decide a Nebraska utility's motion to lift a partial block on the approval of its 226-mile, 345-kilovolt electricity transmission line before construction starts, arguing that the federal government again ignored important aspects of the problem.

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Justices Seek Solicitor General's Views On Tribal River Claims

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sought the solicitor general's views on whether Washington tribes can pursue damages against a Canadian mining company for alleged pollution to the Columbia River.

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Convicted Ex-Coal Exec Flags New Claim Against Key Witness

By Phillip Bantz

A former coal executive convicted in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act trial has asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to delay his upcoming sentencing hearing, arguing he recently learned of allegations that a key government witness in the case "continues to pay bribes."

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Why Importers Should Assess IEEPA Refund Claims Now

Businesses that wait for direction from U.S. Customs and Border Protection or the courts before seeking refunds of their finally liquidated International Economic Emergency Procedure Act duties in court may find them out of reach as the earliest potential limitation deadlines are approaching, says Samuel Finkelstein at LMD Trade Law.

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Analysis

Judge Clevenger's Intellect Defined His Time On Fed. Circ.

By Dani Kass

Newly retired Federal Circuit Judge Raymond Clevenger has an "exceptionally keen intellect" that allowed him to spot holes or new paths in cases that the parties or fellow panel members hadn't explored, his former colleagues told Law360.

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Sotomayor Warns Judges: Don't Scare Your Jurors

By Brandon Lowrey

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday criticized an Alabama trial court judge who frightened a pool of prospective jurors by ordering the arrest of a latecomer to jury selection, saying in a statement accompanying a denial of certiorari in the case that fear can undermine a defendant's right to an impartial jury.

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Quinn Emanuel Seeks $750K After Defeating Buzbee Suits

By Lynn LaRowe

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP is seeking nearly $750,000 in attorney fees after defeating claims in Texas state court that it conspired with rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter to retaliate against prominent Houston plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee and two of his former clients.

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9th Circ. Pauses Rogoff's Return As Seattle US Atty

By Jack Karp

The Ninth Circuit has put on hold a Washington federal judge's decision to reinstate Roger Rogoff as Seattle's top federal prosecutor, a post Rogoff held for less than an hour before he was fired by President Donald Trump.

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Jackson Walker Deal Stalled By Standing Issue, Trustee Says

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Trustee's Office told a Texas federal judge that its settlement with Jackson Walker LLP to disgorge fees from cases touched by scandal is on ice while a bankruptcy judge examines the watchdog's standing to seek such relief.

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Eckert Seamans Says Data Breach Harm Is Only Speculative

By James Boyle

Pittsburgh-based law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday a pair of proposed class actions claiming damages from a data breach at the firm have not made specific complaints of actual harm caused by the breach and should be dismissed.

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