A former coal executive's defense in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case could hinge on whether a jury believes a law professor's opinion that the Al Nasr Co. for Coke and Chemicals was officially owned by the Egyptian government and whether the executive "authorized" payments allegedly used to bribe Al Nasr officials, according to closing arguments in a federal trial Tuesday.
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Coal Exec 'Had No Ability' To OK Paying Bribes, Jury Told

By Matthew Santoni

A former coal executive's defense in a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act case could hinge on whether a jury believes a law professor's opinion that the Al Nasr Co. for Coke and Chemicals was officially owned by the Egyptian government and whether the executive "authorized" payments allegedly used to bribe Al Nasr officials, according to closing arguments in a federal trial Tuesday.

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Colo. Utility Advocates Dispute Energy Financing Program

By Zach Dupont

The Colorado Office of the Utility Consumer Advocate, or UCA, claimed in Colorado state court Friday that a recent decision to approve a tariffed on-bill financing program to help customers purchase energy efficiency upgrades violates state law.

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3 Firms Guide Cos.' $1.9B PacifiCorp Assets Buy

By Isaac Monterose

Portland General Electric Company and Manulife Investment Management have paid $1.9 billion to obtain electrical provider PacifiCorp's Washington state assets in a cash deal guided by Latham & Watkins LLP, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

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Meeks Presses Rubio For Info On Venezuela Oil Money

By Madeline Lyskawa

Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, D-N.Y., demanded that Secretary of State Marco Rubio turn over documents and answer questions concerning the Trump administration's decision to place approximately $200 million in Venezuela oil revenues in an account in Qatar.

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OIL AND GAS

Wisconsin Tribe Fights Enbridge's Line 5 Shutdown Delay

By Crystal Owens

A Wisconsin tribe is fighting a request by Enbridge Energy Inc. to stay a June 16 deadline to shut down a portion of its Line 5 pipeline on reservation lands pending a Seventh Circuit decision, telling a federal district court that the Canadian company's motion is "jurisdictionally infirm."

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UTILITIES AND POWER

States Say FEMA Ignoring Disaster Mitigation Funding Order

By Carolyn Muyskens

Two months after a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration's cancellation of a federal disaster mitigation program was illegal, the government has not shown any signs of restoring it, a coalition of states said Tuesday.

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SPAC Sponsor Execs Kept $29M Biz Breakup Fee, Suit Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

A blank check company sponsor linked to energy giant Nabors Industries is facing investor allegations that its brass unfairly laid claim to a $29 million settlement sum despite missing a deadline to merge with another company.

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Battery Co. Calls Energizer's Trade Secret Claims 'Meritless'

By Elliot Weld

A California battery company accusing Energizer and Walmart of colluding to fix retail battery prices said Energizer's counterclaims of inducing an account manager to steal trade secrets were "tactical and meritless" and has asked a federal judge to dismiss them.

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Ga. Justices Order Do-Over In Challenge To Auto Dealer Regs

By Chart Riggall

The Georgia Supreme Court ordered a trial court Tuesday to redo its analysis of an electric carmaker's challenge to the state's prohibition on direct-to-consumer auto sales, ruling that the court failed to consider whether the ban comported with the state Legislature's constitutional prerogatives.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

How AI Data Centers Are Elevating Development Risk In 2026

As thousands of artificial intelligence data center constructions continue to pop up across the U.S., such projects must be treated not as simple real estate developments, but as infrastructure programs where power, supply chains and technology integration all drive both schedule and risk, say attorneys at Cozen O’Connor.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Law Professors Sue EEOC For Firm DEI Letter Records

By Craig Clough

Two professors at law schools in Michigan and Florida have sued the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in D.C. federal court, seeking documents related to 20 letters the agency sent to law firms over their purported diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

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Goldstein Tax Trial Heads To Closing Args As Defense Rests

By Jared Foretek

Jurors in SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's tax fraud trial will hear closing arguments Wednesday, after the final two witnesses in the monthlong proceeding took the stand, and new emails regarding Goldstein's efforts to conceal poker debts came to light Tuesday.

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Flat Fee Or Contingency? Firm, Ex-Client Fight Over IP Spoils

By Ben Adlin

A 3D printing technology company has urged a Washington federal court to toss a breach of contract lawsuit brought by its former law firm, Lee & Hayes PC, arguing it agreed to a flat fee ahead of a patent settlement, while Lee & Hayes says it only waived a contingency fee because of its onetime client's "underhanded misrepresentations."

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J&J Fights Beasley Allen's Bid To Pause Talc DQ Ruling

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey state court lacks standing to block an appellate panel's removal of Beasley Allen from representing hundreds of women with ovarian cancer pursuing claims against Johnson & Johnson over talcum powder, the pharmaceutical company has argued in an opposition brief.

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Valve Jury Says Rothschild, Atty Broke Anti-Patent Troll Law

By Rachel Riley

Inventor Leigh Rothschild, his companies and his former attorney broke Washington state's anti-patent trolling law by making a bad faith assertion of patent infringement against video game developer Valve Corp., and Rothschild and his companies breached an intellectual property licensing deal in the process, a Seattle federal jury found on Tuesday. 

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Supreme Court Adopts Rule To Suss Out Stock Conflicts

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that litigants will soon be required to include companies' stock ticker symbols in court documents as part of new rules aimed at helping the justices identify potential conflicts of interest.

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Sens. Concerned About Live Nation Case After DOJ 'Ousting'

By Matthew Perlman

A group of Senate Democrats is raising concerns about potential political influence at the U.S. Department of Justice, following the abrupt departure of the agency's top antitrust enforcer weeks before Live Nation is set to face trial in the government's monopolization case.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

Cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence disputes continued their slow weave into Delaware Court of Chancery and state Supreme Court dockets last week, with jurists and litigants grappling over how — or if — the courts' old-school equity jurisdiction and fiduciary duty hooks apply to new kinds of deals.

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Promo that reads 2025 Practice Groups of the Year

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Amazon.com Inc.

Bauer Inc.

ConocoPhillips

Cornell University

Cottrell Inc.

Dell Technologies Inc.

Enbridge Energy Partners LP

Energizer Holdings Inc.

Fortiline Inc.

Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman

Google LLC

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co.

Johnson & Johnson

Juniper Networks Inc.

LRN Corp.

Leeds Equity Partners LLC

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Manulife Financial Corp.

Michigan State University

Microsoft Corp.

NVIDIA Corp.

Nabors Industries Ltd.

OpenAI OpCo LLC

PacifiCorp

Patent Asset Management

Portland General Electric Co.

Tesla Inc.

The Western Union Co.

Valve Corp.

Walmart Inc.

Yara International

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

Alston & Bird

Baker & Hostetler

Barnes & Thornburg

Beasley Allen

Berger Montague

Clement & Murphy

Cooley LLP

Corr Cronin

Cozen O'Connor

DLA Piper

DNL Zito

Debevoise & Plimpton

Faegre Drinker

Freshfields

Gibbs Mura

Gibson Dunn

Goodwin Procter

Hogan Lovells

Hooper Hathaway

Husch Blackwell

Kanji & Katzen

Kilpatrick Townsend

Kirkland & Ellis

Kutak Rock

Lacy Price

Latham & Watkins

Lee & Hayes

McDermott Will & Schulte

Meyler Legal

Milbank LLP

Morgan Lewis

Morris Kandinov

Morrison & Foerster

Munger Tolles

O'Melveny & Myers

Perkins Coie

Ropes & Gray

Rothschild & Rothschild

Schneider Wallace

Sidley Austin

Sills Cummis

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Skadden Arps

Venable LLP

White & Case

WilmerHale

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Tribe

Colorado Public Utilities Commission

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Emergency Management Agency

Georgia Attorney General's Office

Georgia Department of Revenue

Georgia Supreme Court

Judicial Conference of the United States

New Jersey Court

New Jersey Supreme Court

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

US Office of Management and Budget

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin

Washington Attorney General's Office