Analysis

Why NY's Flagship Climate Law Is On The Rocks

By Gautama Mehta

Seven years ago, New York enacted an ambitious plan to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. But with few pertinent regulations on the books, Law360 takes a look at why that plan may not come to fruition despite a successful lawsuit challenging the state's lack of action to date.

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DC Judge Says 'God Squad' Can Meet Over Gulf Oil Drilling

By Gautama Mehta

A D.C. federal judge on Friday refused to block an upcoming meeting Tuesday within the U.S. Department of the Interior to consider an exemption to the Endangered Species Act for oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Venture Global Reaches Deal With Edison On LNG Dispute

By Joyce Hanson

Liquefied natural gas producer Venture Global and Edison SpA have reached an arbitration settlement in their dispute over whether the American LNG exporter failed to properly provide the Italian electric utility with contractual shipments from its Louisiana project site, saying they have signed a commercial agreement.

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Texas Justices Take Up Challenge To $4M Subrogation Lien

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday granted a petition to review a finding that an insurance company has the right to collect a $4 million subrogation lien from workers who were injured in a plywood mill explosion.

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Jailed Energy Trader Won't Fight $7.7M Judgment

By José Luis Martínez

An energy trader who reported to prison this year told a Texas federal court Friday he does not oppose entry of a more than $7.7 million civil judgment in favor of his former employer, as long as it's credited against the restitution he was ordered to pay by the federal government in separate proceedings.

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2nd Circ. Tosses $16B YPF Judgment Against Argentina

By Vince Sullivan

A panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a New York judge's $16 billion judgment against Argentina arising from its nationalization of the country's largest oil and gas exploration company, saying Friday Argentine law doesn't obligate the country to comply with YPF SA's corporate bylaws.

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Lawyer Says Contract With Rivera Was For Venezuela's Oil Co.

By Carolina Bolado

The $50 million consulting contract that former Florida Congressman David Rivera signed with the U.S. affiliate of Venezuela's state-owned oil company was ultimately funded and controlled by the Venezuelan parent company, the attorney who drafted the document said Friday at Rivera's trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.

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Colo. County Says DOI Skirted Review For Utah Oil Project

By Keith Goldberg

A Colorado county has accused the U.S. Department of the Interior of unlawfully fast-tracking the approval of a Utah oil-by-rail transportation expansion project by misusing its emergency authority to bypass meaningful environmental review and public feedback.

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25 Years Later, Dam Salmon Case Must Stay In Trial Court

By Crystal Owens

A district court judge in Oregon has rejected the federal government's efforts to end decades-long litigation over hydropower dam operations in the Columbia River Basin, saying arguments that the dispute is subject to Ninth Circuit review are unpersuasive and mistaken.

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Texas Justices Pass On Uri Suits Targeting Power Suppliers

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday turned down a bid to revive claims that power plant companies' negligent handling of equipment and staff harmed electric consumers during a deadly winter storm in 2021.

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Court Keeps Alive EPI's Suit Over Ga. Commissioner Emails

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia state appellate court on Friday kept alive the Energy and Policy Institute's lawsuit alleging the Georgia Public Service Commission and one of its commissioners violated the state's public records law, affirming a lower court ruling.

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Brief

ITC Will Review Solar Cell Imports For Infringement

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission is launching an investigation into claims by an Arizona-based solar company accusing nearly 50 companies of importing solar cells into the U.S. that infringe one of its patents.

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State Carbon Cost Disparities Are Pivotal In Data Center Siting

When choosing U.S. data center locations, developers must carefully consider the patchwork of state and regional carbon emission pricing regimes that are layered on top of the federal permitting framework, creating compliance cost differentials that could add up to billions of dollars, say attorneys at Davis Graham.

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8 Tariff Refund Questions For Restructuring Professionals

For restructuring and turnaround professionals, seeking refunds following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act raises several questions about how to capture legitimate recoveries while protecting an enterprise from the consequences of its own history, says Jonny Frank and Laura Greenman at StoneTurn, and Andrew Popescu at Province.

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Series

Watching Hallmark Movies Makes Me A Better Lawyer

I realize you may be judging me for watching, and actually enjoying, Hallmark Channel movies, but the escapism and storylines actually demonstrate qualities and actions that lead to an efficient, productive and positive legal practice, says Karen Ross at Tucker Ellis.

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Firms Targeted By Trump Urge DC Circ. To Uphold EO Rulings

By Alison Knezevich

Four law firms targeted last year by President Donald Trump urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to affirm lower court rulings that struck down executive orders restricting their ability to practice law, saying the directives blatantly violate the Constitution.

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Ex-Williams & Connolly Clerk Accused Of Posting Client Info

By Hailey Konnath

A former Williams & Connolly LLP clerk has been posting confidential firm information — including client information and work email exchanges — and he's threatening to "keep leaking" the materials, which he called "a fun read," according to a suit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court.

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BigLaw Races To Capture Expanding Fund Finance Market

By Kevin Penton

Debt financing work at the fund level has long been dominated on the lender side by attorneys from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, Haynes Boone and Mayer Brown LLP, but other firms are increasingly crafting formal practices and poaching fund finance stars from the more established players.

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NJ Federal Judge DQs Beasley Allen In J&J Talc MDL

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal judge has disqualified the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing hundreds of plaintiffs in sprawling multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, holding that the firm violated ethics rules by collaborating with former outside counsel for J&J, a ruling the law firm has vowed to appeal.

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Apollo, BlackRock Deny Asking Kirkland To Abandon Optimum

By Tracey Read

Apollo, Ares, BlackRock and other major financial companies have denied Optimum Communications' claims accusing them of "bullying" Kirkland & Ellis LLP into withdrawing as the telecommunications company's transaction counsel to get revenge for a collusion lawsuit filed in New York federal court.

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Atty Sanctioned For AI Hallucinations In Workers' Comp Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New Jersey appellate court on Friday ordered an attorney to pay $1,000 in sanctions for failing to rectify AI-hallucinated case citations pointed out to him in an appeal concerning reimbursement sought by a workers' compensation carrier.

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Brief

Amazon Swaps MoFo In, Perkins Coie Out In Cooker Suit

By Ben Adlin

Amazon.com LLP switched counsel Friday in a customer's product defect suit accusing the retail giant of selling a faulty pressure cooker that allegedly malfunctioned and caused her severe burns, substituting two Morrison Foerster LLP attorneys in place of an outgoing Perkins Coie LLP lawyer.

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Judiciary Nixes Amicus Disclosure Reform Over Potential Chill

By Emily Sawicki

The federal judiciary has been asked not to move forward with a plan to add to amicus brief disclosure requirements designed to curb "dark money" groups from bankrolling amicus briefs, after rules committee chairs pulled the recommendation over concerns of a possible chilling effect.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Apple hit back at a tech company's wireless charging patent claim, a flurry of businesses bring COVID-19 pandemic insurance claims as a key deadline draws closer and Ipulse Partners LLP file a claim against a luxury yacht company it represented in a trademark dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A federal judge has stopped the Pentagon from dropping AI giant Anthropic from the government's supply chain, and Latham & Watkins ranked first in a survey of in-house legal leaders on which law firms are most helpful in developing business, followed by King & Spalding, Jones Day and Ropes & Gray.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The Lanier Law Firm, Kiesel Law LLP, Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP and Beasley Allen Law Firm lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California state jury in a bellwether trial found Meta and Google liable for harming the mental health of a woman who says she became addicted to their social media platforms as a child.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Mich. Judge Signals No Stay If Attys Exit Retaliation Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge said Friday she is not inclined to pause a long-running sexual harassment suit again if counsel for an attorney who is suing her ex-mentor and former firm are allowed to withdraw, telling the parties, "We've been here. We've done this," as she heard arguments over a motion to exit the case.

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Mayer Brown's $21M Fee Bid In RI Truck Tolls Suit Rebuffed

By Linda Chiem

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday rebuffed Mayer Brown LLP's bid for $21 million in attorney fees for representing the commercial trucking industry's lead trade group in long-running litigation over the state's truck tolling program, saying the American Trucking Associations ultimately was not the "prevailing party."

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