Energy Companies' Win In NYC Greenwashing Suit Affirmed

By Tom Lotshaw

A New York appeals court on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of a New York City suit accusing BP, Exxon and Shell of deceiving consumers about the environmental effects of their gasoline products and alternative energy investments.

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3 Firms Steer Crescent, Devon On $4.2B Eagle Ford Deal

By Al Barbarino

Crescent Energy has agreed to buy Eagle Ford assets from Devon Energy for about $4.2 billion, with three firms advising on a deal that will expand Crescent's position in the South Texas oil and gas basin, the companies said Thursday.

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Enviro Group, Feds End Suit Over Alaska Refuge Road Work

By Crystal Owens

The state of Alaska, the federal government and an environmental nonprofit have agreed to dismiss a dispute over a 500-acre land exchange that will allow road construction on Izembek National Wildlife Refuge lands.

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Feds Say End Of Chevron Deference Justifies ESA 'Harm' Rule

By Gautama Mehta

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service told California and South Carolina federal judges that the Trump administration's redefinition of "harm" under the Endangered Species Act was permissible after the overturning of Chevron deference.

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Maduro's Wife Loses Bail Bid As US Levels Torture Charges

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge declined Thursday to grant bail to the wife of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, after prosecutors unveiled new narco-terrorism charges accusing the couple of a 25-year course of torture, including against Americans.

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Global Trade More Resilient Than Expected In 2026, WTO Says

By Jack McLoone

The global market has largely weathered conflicts in the Middle East and other disruptions better than expected so far in 2026 thanks to the growth of artificial intelligence, the World Trade Organization said Thursday, revising upward some of its global trade growth projections.

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Oil Co. Moves To Toss Landowners' Well Cleanup Claims

By MJ Koo

Colorado landowners who won class certification in a federal suit accusing an oil and gas company of transferring well rights to avoid cleanup obligations faced the company's bid to dismiss court-ordered cleanup claims, with the company saying the landowners cannot show that any court order would result in the wells being plugged.

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ICC Finds Venture Global Delayed Galp LNG Deliveries

By Caroline Simson

An international tribunal has concluded that a Venture Global unit breached its contract with Portuguese energy company Galp regarding sales of liquefied natural gas from its Calcasieu Pass facility in Louisiana, Venture disclosed Wednesday.

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Coastal County Tells Texas Justices It's Free To Tax Stored Oil

By Michael Nunes

A Texas county's property tax on stored oil that companies said was bound for export doesn't violate the import-export clause of the U.S. Constitution, the county told the state's high court Thursday, saying a significant amount of oil remained in the state.

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Duke Energy, Tech Giants Ink Data Center Cost Deal

By Gina Kim

Duke Energy announced on Wednesday that it has reached a deal with North Carolina regulators, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Google and others to beef up existing protections to ensure ratepayers won't be burdened with costs incurred from data centers and other large-load customers in the Tar Heel State. 

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Colo. Landowners Sue To Block Data Center

By Benjamin Morse

Colorado landowners sued Weld County and a data center developer, alleging that the county unlawfully approved the first phase of what they say will be the state's largest data center despite concerns about its water and electricity needs, noise pollution and violations of public meeting requirements.

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Investor Says Power Tech Co. Hyped 'Sham' Data Center Deal

By Katryna Perera

The top brass at power technology manufacturer Hyliion Holdings allegedly oversold the capabilities and operations of a company Hyliion partnered with to deploy Hyliion's modular power plant technology, according to a new shareholder derivative suit in Texas federal court.

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Utility Giant Southern Co. Sued Over Recent Data Breach

By Kelcey Caulder

The Southern Co. has been hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court, accusing the utility holding company of failing to adequately protect hundreds of thousands of customers' personal information during a recent cyberattack.

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2nd Circ. Says Filed Rate Doctrine Bars Utility Bond Claims

By Katryna Perera

The Second Circuit has declined to revive a suit alleging Bloomberg LP reclassified certain utility company bonds to hike interest rates paid by electricity customers, finding that customers cannot challenge such rates because the utilities filed the interest rates with state regulators before issuing the bonds.

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US Drops Appeal Of $49M In Grants Won By Wind Farm

By Kat Lucero

The U.S. government dropped its Federal Circuit appeal of a lower court's approval of $49.4 million in additional renewable energy cash grants for the country's second-largest wind farm, ending a 13-year dispute over the grant amount.

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Nikola's Pardoned Ex-CEO Seeks To Flip Ch. 11 Claim Ruling

By Emlyn Cameron

The former CEO of electric-truck maker Nikola has asked the Third Circuit to review a Delaware federal judge's decision that his nearly $70 million bankruptcy claim against his former company was properly subordinated in the debtor's Chapter 11, despite a pardon from President Donald Trump.

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Ex-Coal Exec's Bribe Sentencing Paused Amid Witness Claims

By Phillip Bantz

A Pennsylvania federal judge agreed Wednesday to reschedule an upcoming sentencing hearing for a former coal executive convicted of authorizing bribes to an arm of the Egyptian government, after his attorneys flagged new allegations against a star witness for the prosecution.

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Coal Co. Settles Fight With Miners Over Lifetime Benefits

By Grace Elletson

Consol Energy Inc. has reached a settlement with retired miners who claimed the company reneged on promises to provide them health benefits for life, months after the Fourth Circuit declined to scrap a bench trial judgment that awarded lifetime benefits to a pair of ex-miners but denied class claims.

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Linklaters Adds Atty To Lead Latin American Arbitration

By Jack Rodgers

Linklaters has announced it hired a Paul Hastings LLP international counsel and former White & Case attorney to lead its Latin American arbitration team.

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Series

Mentalism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Convincing strangers I can read their minds may seem like an unusual second career for a legal practitioner, but both disciplines share several important requirements, including trust and preparation, says Warren Biro at Manatt.

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Cos. Must Prep For Changes To Calif. Battery Recycling Law

With important changes to California's Responsible Battery Recycling Act taking effect in January, manufacturers and retailers should review updated format and product definitions and exclusions, determine their new responsibilities, and be prepared to submit new stewardship plans in advance of the deadline, says Thierry Montoya at FBT Gibbons.

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Sheppard Mullin Hit With Class Action Over Data Breach

By Jake Maher

A former Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP paralegal launched a proposed class action against the firm in California federal court on Wednesday over a cyberattack it had in August, in which she says at least 1,000 people's names and Social Security numbers were stolen.

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IP Rights Group Urges Against Litigation Funding Disclosure

By Elliot Weld

An inventor rights advocacy group has told a federal courts rules committee that requiring the disclosure of who is funding civil litigation would put independent inventors at a disadvantage when trying to enforce patents against a larger company.

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Analysis

New Fraud Division Flexes Might In Latest Enforcement Policy

By Phillip Bantz

The National Fraud Enforcement Division's new corporate enforcement policy emphasizes the quick pursuit of certain types of fraud through data analysis and staff resources, expands the target list beyond traditional healthcare providers and highlights the division's growing dominance within the U.S. Department of Justice, experts say.

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Cornell Defendant Seeks To Nix James As Special Prosecutor

By Andrea Keckley

One of the seven men accused of drugging and raping a fellow Cornell University student at a fraternity home has asked a New York state court to void Gov. Kathy Hochul's appointment of New York Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor in the case.

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Gov't Attys Could Face Sanctions Over AI Use Omissions

By Madeline Lyskawa

A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge has ordered four government attorneys to explain why they shouldn't be sanctioned for making factual misrepresentations about the U.S. Army's use of artificial intelligence to evaluate contract proposals.

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Split Congress Could Spur Competing Probes, Cleary Finds

By Courtney Bublé

If the new year brings an era of divided Congress, then "dueling investigations" into the same topics should be expected, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP said in a report it released Thursday.

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Fla. Judge Says Oct. 7 Attack Was 'Inflection Point' For U.S.

By David Minsky

U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman addressed a small group of attorneys in a Florida law office to speak on his book about the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, saying public debate over facts surrounding the event and underlying feud has reached an "inflection point" in America.

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Buzbee Faces $970K Fee Bid In Dismissed Conspiracy Cases

By Lynn LaRowe

A Mississippi lawyer is asking a Texas state court to award her more than $970,000 in fees after defeating claims that she and her law firm conspired with rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP to retaliate against prominent Houston plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee and two of his former clients.

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Dems Says GOP Broke Senate Rules In Jack Smith Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have accused Republicans of violating committee rules during a hearing last week with former special counsel Jack Smith.

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