Oil Giants Say Mich. AG's Climate Antitrust Suit Is DOA

By Keith Goldberg

Global oil giants and an industry group have said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has no basis to allege they conspired to restrict renewable energy and delay the transition away from fossil fuels in violation of federal antitrust laws.

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Judge OKs $55M Deal In BP Archaea Suit

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Monday approved a $55.3 million settlement resolving derivative claims that Noble Environmental Inc.'s founders diverted a multibillion-dollar renewable energy opportunity to themselves through Archaea Energy, which BP later bought for $4.1 billion.

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Utility Districts Violated Canada-US River Treaty, Judge Says

By Elaine Briseño

A federal judge found Monday that a group of public utility districts in Washington state had breached the U.S.' Columbia River Treaty by failing to contribute their pledged share of hydroelectric power to Canada.

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Calif. Seeks To Halt Trump Admin's Coastal Pipeline Restart

By Bonnie Eslinger

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has urged a California federal court to block a Trump administration order that invoked emergency powers under the Defense Production Act to restart a Santa Barbara oil pipeline on the state's coast.

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Analysis

Spirit Airlines' Demise To Reshape Low-Cost Competition

By Linda Chiem

Rival airlines have scrambled to boost routes, plug service gaps and snatch up Spirit Airlines customers in the two days since the budget carrier's demise, raising alarms about what other casualties might be in store for an airline industry reeling from skyrocketing jet fuel costs.

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Maduro Gets June Court Date After US Relents On Atty Fees

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday directed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to return to court in June, after he and his wife, Cilia Flores, reached an apparent agreement with the Trump administration to access Venezuela government funds for their legal fees.

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Exxon Execs Never Pressured Profitability Analysts, Jury Hears

By Spencer Brewer

Former Exxon Chief Executive Rex Tillerson testified Monday that the company's top brass never pressured employees to make the company's holdings seem more profitable than they were, telling a jury in Texas federal court that he stood by the reports the company issued to investors.

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Feds Say Minn.'s State Suit Usurps Climate Regulator Role

By Gautama Mehta

The federal government moved to halt Minnesota's state court lawsuit accusing Exxon Mobil Corp. and others of lying to the public about fossil fuels' effects on climate, alleging in a new lawsuit on Monday that the state is usurping federal authority.

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Trump Broadens Sanctions On Cuban Government

By Jack McLoone

President Donald Trump has expanded his sanctions regime against Cuba, issuing an executive order targeting Cuban government officials while also implementing second-order sanctions against financial institutions that carry out transactions with sanctioned individuals.

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Feds Say Challenge To Drilling Near SD Worship Site Baseless

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Forest Service is fighting three Indigenous rights and conservation nonprofits' bid to undo its streamlined approval of exploratory drilling within Black Hills National Forest that they say will harm a sacred worship site, arguing to a South Dakota federal court that the groups' allegations are just speculation.

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SPAC Says Investor Bought In Knowing $29M Deal Had Failed

By Katryna Perera

The sponsor of a blank check company linked to energy giant Nabors Industries Ltd. pushed back against an investor suit alleging its top brass unfairly claimed a $29 million settlement despite missing a deadline to merge with another company, arguing the investor bought shares knowing the acquisition already failed.

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Wells Fargo, Law Firm Sued Over Alleged Ponzi Scheme Ties

By Sarah Jarvis

Wells Fargo, a California law group and an Arizona investment advisory firm have been hit with a suit in a Texas federal court alleging they aided a purported Ponzi scheme over a purported oil-and-gas industry technology company.

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Ex-IRS Agent Accused Of Stealing $12M From Fuel Co.

By Asha Glover

A former Internal Revenue Service agent was arrested for allegations that he embezzled more than $12 million in his role as a chief financial officer of a New Jersey fuel company, the New Jersey U.S. Attorney's Office said.

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Brief

Red Hill Fuel Leak Settlement Gets Judge's Backing

By Tom Lotshaw

A Hawaii federal magistrate judge said a settlement reached for 176 minor plaintiffs with claims in litigation over water contamination stemming from jet fuel spills at the U.S. Navy Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility in the Aloha State should be approved.

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Wachtell Lipton, Kirkland Steer Hubbell's $3B NSI Buy

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Utility and electrical solution provider Hubbell Inc., advised by Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, on Monday announced plans to acquire Kirkland & Ellis LLP-led NSI Industries in a $3 billion deal.

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DTE Energy Hit With Overtime Collective Action

By Melanie Dorsey

A DTE Energy employee filed a proposed collective action in Michigan federal court, alleging the utility systematically underpaid overtime wages by failing to properly calculate workers' regular rate under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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Groups Say Feds Neglected Whale Habitat Revision Petition

By Ganesh Setty

Conservation groups told a D.C. federal court Monday that the federal government failed to respond to a petition to revise a whale species' critical habitat designation under the Endangered Species Act, noting more than a year has elapsed.

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Simpson Thacher Energy Pro Joins A&O Shearman In Texas

By Lynn LaRowe

Allen Overy Shearman Sterling has welcomed a former Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP lawyer in Houston to serve as its head of U.S. energy and infrastructure finance.

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Enviro Ruling And A New Law Signal Shift In La. Legacy Cases

Together, a Louisiana state court decision in WMH Farms v. Apache Corp. and an incoming statutory regime signal a sea change for legacy litigation in Louisiana, as courts make it harder to establish proof of contamination, and lawmakers narrow available remedies once contamination is proven, says Philip Wood at Jones Walker.

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2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

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Bondi Spurs Ethics Doubts By Using DOJ Official As Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

Harmeet Dhillon, an official with the U.S. Department of Justice, is representing former Attorney General Pam Bondi in proceedings before the House oversight committee, which Democrats on the panel say raises ethical quandaries.

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Attys Defend $85M Fee Bid Blasted By Judge In Google Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Consumers who pursued an antitrust class action against Google urged the California federal judge who criticized their 98,000 hours billed as "grotesquely bloated" to approve their $85 million fee request, emphasizing Friday that they filed suit a year before state attorneys general joined the case and maintained a leading role in the litigation.

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Military Atty Can Prosecute Minn. Civilian Despite Regulations

By Jack Karp

A Minnesota federal judge won't stop a military attorney from being appointed to prosecute a civilian accused of assaulting federal immigration officers, despite finding that the appointment violates binding U.S. Department of Defense regulations.

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DOJ Apology For Hidden Warrant Not Satisfying For Judge

By Tom Lotshaw

A Rhode Island federal judge, whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security criticized for releasing a noncitizen with an alleged overseas warrant for homicide, was dissatisfied with an assistant U.S. attorney's apology for not disclosing the warrant to the court beforehand.

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Wash. Bar Task Force Spotlights Atty Mental Health Issues

By Rachel Riley

A Washington State Bar Association wellness survey of roughly 900 members found that nearly 10% said they experienced suicidal thoughts or self-harm in the past year, and about 20% expressed concerns about their alcohol consumption, a task force reported to bar leadership on Saturday.

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Lewis Brisbois Gets Ex-Paralegal's Claims Sent To Arbitration

By Adrian Cruz

A Florida state judge determined that a former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has to arbitrate her claims accusing the firm of defamation and costing her a job at another firm.

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Sinema Pans 'Gross Distortion' By Ex-Guard's Wife In Tryst Suit

By Abigail Harrison

Former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Friday doubled down on her contention that a North Carolina federal court lacks jurisdiction over a lawsuit alleging she destroyed a marriage by sending lascivious texts to her ex-security guard.

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Analysis

DOJ's In-House Detention Legal Aid Plan Is MIA

By Courtney Bublé

A year ago, U.S. Department of Justice officials said the government would be taking over a program historically run by nonprofits to provide legal orientations and referrals for pro bono representation for adults in immigration detention facilities. But those involved in the program say the Trump administration hasn't taken any steps to run the program.

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2nd Circ. Raises Concern Over Challenge To NY US Atty's DQ

By Stewart Bishop

A Second Circuit panel on Monday voiced concern over the U.S. Department of Justice's argument that a now-former acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York was serving lawfully when he subpoenaed the New York Attorney General's office over a pair of cases disfavored by President Donald Trump.

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Mass. Justices Uneasy Over Judge's Handling Of ICE Incident

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' top court on Monday appeared concerned that a state district court judge in 2018 offered to detain a defendant sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as the justices considered a public reprimand.

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Atty Seeks Docs To Back Ogletree DQ Bid In Bias Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A Georgia attorney on Monday asked a federal judge to allow discovery related to her bid to have Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC disqualified from defending ADT LLC against discrimination claims while concurrently defending Microsoft Corp. in the attorney's own pregnancy bias suit.

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Longtime South Fla. Federal Judge James King Dies At 98

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, a Nixon appointee who spent more than half a century on the federal bench and helped shape the Southern District of Florida, died Saturday at the age of 98.

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Calif. District OKs Civil Court Audio Feeds Including Musk Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

The Northern District of California modified local court rules late Friday to allow judges to stream audio for civil jury trials in the district, accompanying its announcement with a separate notice that the high-profile Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial over OpenAI's for-profit conversion is available to access via audio stream.

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