3rd Circ. Revives Exxon Unit's Bid To Arbitrate Royalties Claims

By P.J. D'Annunzio

ExxonMobil subsidiary XTO Energy Inc. will get another chance to pursue arbitration in a case over allegedly underpaid natural gas royalties, with the Third Circuit ruling Monday that litigating class claims for more than four years did not preclude its bid for an out-of-court resolution.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Takes Trump Admin Pipeline Fight To 9th Circ.

By Keith Goldberg

California has asked the Ninth Circuit to review a district court's rejection of its bid to block the Trump administration's reopening of a controversial coastal oil pipeline, which a judge said was a valid use of federal emergency authority under the Defense Production Act.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ukraine Says Tatneft Appeal Over $173M Stay Should Be Axed

By Joyce Hanson

Ukraine has pressed the D.C. Circuit to nix an appeal by a large Russian oil company that seeks to overturn a lower court's stay order in the business's suit to enforce a $173 million arbitral award against the country, saying its domestic law prohibits it from paying the award.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Seeks To Beat UC Researchers' Challenge Of Grant Axings

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Justice argued on Friday that the Trump administration should prevail over University of California researchers' challenges of the termination of their grants, telling a California federal judge that the First Amendment doesn't apply to competitively awarded grants.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Feds Seek Early End To Commodities Firm Bribery Case DPA

By Brian Steele

Federal prosecutors have moved to release a Connecticut-based commodities firm from a deferred prosecution agreement nearly four months early, telling a judge Monday that Freepoint Commodities LLC has satisfied its obligations and paid more than $106 million to resolve allegations that it bribed Brazilian government officials.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Battery-Maker Investor Sues Brass Over $200M DOE Grant

By Jarek Rutz

A Microvast Holdings Inc. stockholder has sued the battery-maker's current and former directors and executives in the Delaware Chancery Court, alleging they breached their fiduciary duties by misleading investors about a $200 million federal grant and the progress of a Tennessee manufacturing plant.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Rising Star: Cravath's Brittany L. Sukiennik

By Emily Johnson

Brittany L. Sukiennik of Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP has guided Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility company, in a roughly $640 million agreement to settle claims against it over the devastating 2021 Marshall Fire and helped lead Pacific Gas and Electric Co. through Chapter 11 bankruptcy after it faced mass tort suits over the California wildfires in 2017 and 2018, earning her a spot among practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Feds Cut Colo. River Basin Water For 2 Years Amid Drought

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Department of the Interior has finalized a 10-year framework for Colorado River operations that will reduce water delivery to Arizona, California and Nevada by 1.25 million acre-feet for two years, as reservoirs dive to lows not seen since their 1963 construction due to ongoing drought conditions.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Nevada Challenges Feds' Plan For Colorado River Shortages

By Tom Lotshaw

Nevada on Monday asked a federal judge to block a framework for Colorado River water cuts the Trump administration finalized, arguing that a flawed review and analysis threaten to put shortages on the backs of it and two other lower basin states.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Enviro Groups' Drilling Suit Lacks Imminent Harm, Judge Says

By Lauren Berg

Environmental groups sued too early over a move last year by President Donald Trump to revive the prospect of Arctic oil and gas leasing in offshore areas that prior administrations deemed off-limits, an Alaska federal judge ruled Monday, saying the plaintiffs have not demonstrated a "substantial risk of imminent harm."

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Residents Ask To Drop SpaceX From Data Center Noise Suit

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class of Mississippi residents told a federal court that they are OK with SpaceX exiting their lawsuit, which accused a trio of companies led by Elon Musk of causing a public nuisance with the noise from power generators at three AI data centers.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Foley-Led NVent Buys Maverick Power For Up To $2.3B

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Foley & Lardner LLP-advised electrical connection and equipment company nVent Electric PLC on Monday revealed it has agreed to buy Maverick Power, which provides infrastructure solutions for data centers as well as other services, for up to $2.3 billion.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week saw a wave of lawsuits involving corporate oversight, take-private deals, financing transactions, bankruptcy fallout, stockholder voting rights and disputes over control.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

W.Va. Residents Say Coal Co. Polluted Town's Water Supply

By Tom Lotshaw

Eighteen residents of Gary, West Virginia, hit Taishan Resources LLC with a citizen suit that accuses the company of negligently operating a surface coal mine and contaminating the town's drinking water.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOD Invests $750M To Buy Rare-Earth Elements From Brazil

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Department of Defense said on Monday that it's investing $750 million in a special purpose vehicle meant to facilitate the U.S. government's purchase of mixed rare-earth carbonates processed by a company in Brazil.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Sidley Expands Energy Practice With 4 Winston Taylor Partners

By Christine DeRosa

Sidley Austin LLP has expanded its energy, transportation and infrastructure practice in four offices with the addition of four Winston Taylor attorneys, including the former co-chair of that firm's project finance practice and the former chair of its projects-Latin America practice.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Milbank To Open In Chicago With White & Case Energy Pro

By Tracey Read

Milbank LLP announced Monday that it plans to launch a Chicago office and has hired the former co-head of White & Case LLP's global project development and finance practice to lead it.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Reed Smith Litigation Pro Joins King & Spalding In Dallas

By Lynn LaRowe

King & Spalding LLP has deepened its construction and energy litigation offerings with a Dallas-based counsel from Reed Smith LLP.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AGs Want Meta's Privilege Claims Reviewed In Bellwether Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

During a break in a jury trial Monday over states' claims Meta hid social media's harm, states' counsel urged a California federal judge to require Meta to re-review all of its attorney-client privilege designations, arguing that "it seems actually logically impossible" that Meta described the wrong standard in only a single document.  

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Legal Center Says DOJ Is Stonewalling Fund Records Request

By Jared Foretek

A voting rights nonprofit is accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of stonewalling a request for records on the Trump administration's attempted "anti-weaponization fund," claiming that the agency has spent the summer unlawfully ducking a Freedom of Information Act submission.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Galindo Law Files For Ch. 11 After Camp Lejeune Fee Fight

By Ben Zigterman

A Houston-based personal injury law firm sought bankruptcy relief on Monday with more than $50 million in liabilities after a mass tort litigation marketing company sued for over $9 million in fees related to finding potential victims of water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.

Petition attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Attys Ask Court To Toss Suit Alleging They Stole 1,000 Cases

By Spencer Brewer

Multiple attorneys asked a Texas federal court to toss claims that they conspired to hijack 1,000 cases filed by hurricane survivors who had hired and built cases with a different firm, claiming the firm that brought the suit failed to plead a viable RICO claim.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »