Analysis

Companies In Limbo Over Calif. Climate Disclosure Laws' Fate

By Keith Goldberg

Companies that do business in California are stuck in no-man's-land as the Golden State implements sweeping laws requiring disclosure of financial risks tied to climate change, at the same time the Ninth Circuit is poised to decide whether to block the laws.

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Duke Energy Settles Monopoly Suit On Eve Of Jury Trial

By Hayley Fowler

Duke Energy has settled a Florida-based power provider's monopoly suit on the eve of a jury trial in North Carolina, just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a Fourth Circuit ruling that revived the antitrust claims, according to a notice filed Friday.

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Scholars Back Rail Cos. Against Fuel Surcharge Suit Revival

By Bryan Koenig

Academics and former U.S. antitrust officials have backed Union Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern and BNSF against rail shippers asking the D.C. Circuit to revive their suit alleging collusion on freight fuel surcharges, arguing there was nothing collusive about the response to jumps in oil prices in the 2000s.

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NJ Utility Dept. Approves Historic Solar Program Expansion

By George Woolston

New Jersey's utility regulator took a number of actions this week aimed at expanding clean energy generation in the state, including the approval of the largest-ever expansion of the Garden State-run Community Solar Energy Program.

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Judge Wants Action On FEMA Disaster Mitigation Funds Delay

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge Friday ordered the Trump administration to step up its pace in restoring a disaster mitigation funding program, nearly three months after he ordered it to do so.

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Croatia Can't Escape $236M Intra-EU Award Payment

By Caroline Simson

A D.C. federal judge enforced a roughly $236 million arbitral award against Croatia in a long-running dispute stemming from Hungarian oil and gas company MOL's investment in the formerly state-owned Croatian energy supplier INA.

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Spain Launches New Appeal Over $88M Energy Award

By Caroline Simson

Spain will seek to overturn a ruling enforcing a roughly $88.4 million arbitral award issued to a renewable energy investor, after a D.C. federal judge rejected its arguments that the award was not due "full faith and credit" and that enforcement was barred under international comity.

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Oil Field Tech Co. Fights OSHA Citation Review Regime

By José Luis Martínez

An industrial giant cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for a job site death has filed the latest constitutional challenge to the agency's adjudication system, citing the Supreme Court's landmark decision limiting agency enforcement proceedings for civil penalties.

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Energy Trade Group Workers Score Class Cert. In 401(k) Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Virginia federal judge on Friday agreed to certify a group of participants in a 401(k) plan for employees of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, an electric utility trade group, on claims that their retirement savings were dragged down by excessive administrative fees.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Slaughter And May, Kirkland

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, British insurer Beazley accepts a cash takeover offer from Zurich Insurance Group, a consortium of investors led by Blackrock's Global Infrastructure Partners and the EQT Infrastructure VI fund buys energy company AES, and private equity firm Thoma Bravo acquires third-party logistics provider WWEX.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen British American Tobacco sued by more than 100 investors, the government bring a claim against a COVID-19 supplier of personal protective equipment, Annington Funding sue its new corporate trustees on the Financial List, and Piers Morgan hit with a defamation claim from a pro-Israel barrister he interviewed on his YouTube channel. 

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Brief

ITC Probes Chinese Imports Of Salt Used In Lithium Batteries

By Kevin Pinner

The U.S. International Trade Commission is investigating whether Chinese imports of an electrolyte salt used in lithium-ion batteries are hampering U.S. industry by potentially being sold at less than fair value, according to a notice.

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DOJ Forges Ahead With Law Firm EO Appeals At DC Circ.

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday moved ahead with filing appeals at the D.C. Circuit to defend executive orders issued by President Donald Trump targeting four law firms, just three days after the agency backtracked on its decision to drop the fight.

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Legal Jobs Up 19th Straight Month In 'Goldilocks' Economy

By Tracey Read

The legal sector continued its lengthy upward streak in February, with 2,600 more people employed in lawyer, paralegal and other law-related professional roles last month than in January, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Ex-Girardi Keese Atty Pleads Guilty For Role In Client Scandal

By Dorothy Atkins

Former Girardi Keese attorney Keith Griffin pled guilty to criminal contempt in Illinois federal court on Thursday for his role in the firm's failure to pay millions ​in client settlement funds to relatives of victims killed in the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

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Louisiana Atty Sanctioned Over AI Hallucinations In Filing

By Matt Perez

A Louisiana attorney was fined $1,000 Thursday for his use of artificial intelligence in drafting an error-riddled brief, while three co-counsel were spared penalty.

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Investors Accuse Alston & Bird Of Aiding $328M Crypto Fraud

By David Minsky

Several investors have brought a Florida federal proposed class action alleging legal malpractice against Alston & Bird LLP, accusing the law firm of drafting joint venture agreements that were used to aid a $328 million cryptocurrency scam. 

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Constantine Cannon Defends Handling Of Sutter $75M Fee

By Dorothy Atkins

Constantine Cannon LLP pushed back against Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's allegations it unfairly reduced Schneider Wallace's share of a $75.4 million fee award in Sutter Health's $228.5 million antitrust deal, arguing in California federal court that the firm "sat on the sidelines" for most of the decadelong fight and isn't entitled to a bigger cut.

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NJ Talc Suit Will Proceed Amid Beasley Allen DQ Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to stay multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder brought by hundreds of women who allege their ovarian cancer was linked to the product, while Beasley Allen appeals its removal as plaintiff's counsel over a firm partner's collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant's former outside counsel.

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Florida Bar Rescinds Claim Agency Is Investigating Halligan

By Jack Karp

The Florida Bar said Friday that it is not investigating controversial former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, walking back a previous assertion it had made in a letter to a nonprofit that it was probing Halligan's actions.

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Courts Aren't Ignoring Justices' TPS Orders, Ex-Judges Say

By Ganesh Setty

Over 175 former federal and state judges have slammed the Trump administration's claim that lower courts "flouted" interim orders from the U.S. Supreme Court in litigation involving the administration's revocation of foreign nationals' temporary protected status, saying they weren't binding.

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Dems Again Push For Independent Immigration Courts

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats have again introduced a bill that would shift the immigration courts from the executive branch to an independent judiciary, following concerns that the Trump administration has "weaponized" the system.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Anthropic, the developer of Claude AI, says it will take the Pentagon to court over being designated a national security risk because it wants to impose ethical guardrails on Claude's use. And the Mideast war is making in-house legal teams across the country work long hours to protect employees trapped by the violence and to keep businesses running despite broken supply chains. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Winston & Strawn LLP, Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas & Cannavo PC, Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and attorney Olivia Gabriel lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey cannot shield its public transit system from personal injury lawsuits by out-of-state plaintiffs under sovereign immunity.

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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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