Analysis

Judge Decries 'Gamesmanship' In Nixing EPA Waiver Moves

By Keith Goldberg

A federal judge has struck an initial blow against the Trump administration and congressional Republicans' aggressive use of the Congressional Review Act to block the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's move to make Clean Air Act waivers for California subject to potential rescission by lawmakers.

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8th Circ. Says Exclusion Bars Oil Well Blast Coverage

By Danielle Ferguson

The Eighth Circuit said Thursday that an AIG unit does not owe $25 million to an ExxonMobil subsidiary for injury claims stemming from a 2016 oil and gas well explosion, finding the energy company did not meet a notice requirement needed to sidestep a pollution exclusion.

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Oil Cos. Seek Quick Appeal To Nix Suit Over Heat Wave Death

By Gina Kim

Exxon, Chevron, Shell and other oil giants say they plan to seek appellate review of a Washington judge's order refusing to dismiss a civil suit over a woman's 2021 death that alleged the defendants knew their products were intensifying extreme weather patterns but downplayed risks to maximize profit.  

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Cities, Groups Ask Judge To Keep $3B EPA Grant Funding Alive

By Elaine Briseño

Cities and groups challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's cancellation of nearly $3 billion in environmental climate justice grants asked a South Carolina federal judge, who ruled the termination unlawful, on Wednesday to preserve the funding while the agency appeals the decision.

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Maduro Says Narco-Terrorism Charge Has No US Link

By Madeline Lyskawa

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro pressed a New York federal judge to throw out his narco-terrorism conspiracy charge, arguing that the U.S. government cannot indict him for something that took place entirely in another country and did not involve the U.S.

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Mich. Court Keeps Ann Arbor Public Power Measure On Ballot

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan appellate panel has kept a proposal to create a municipal electric utility in Ann Arbor on the November ballot, ruling that the city clerk was not clearly required to reject supplemental petition signatures submitted after the proposal's initial filing. 

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Alaska's Izembek Road Work OK'd Despite Axed Land Swap

By Joyce Hanson

A federal judge has slapped down an environmental group's bid to preliminarily stop the state of Alaska and a Native village corporation from beginning construction on 2.8 miles of road adjacent to the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.

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Brief

EPA Appeals Order To Determine Soot Standard Compliance

By Tom Lotshaw

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it's appealing a California federal judge's decision ordering it to designate what parts of the country are meeting or not meeting new air quality standards for fine particulate matter by early February.

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Freshfields, V&E Guide Flex's $4.4B EPC Power Deal

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Freshfields LLP-led manufacturing company Flex on Thursday unveiled plans to acquire EPC Power, advised by Vinson & Elkins LLP, in a $4.4 billion deal.

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Nippon Tells 9th Circ. Not To Revive US Steel Merger Case

By Bryan Koenig

Nippon Steel urged the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday not to revive a consumer lawsuit challenging its now-completed purchase of U.S. Steel Corp., arguing the district court rightly found the plaintiffs too far removed from the steel market to allege higher prices when buying steel-containing products.

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ISun Ch. 7 Trustee Sues Former Execs Over Self-Dealing

By Vince Sullivan

The Chapter 7 trustee in the bankruptcy of solar power company iSun Inc. accused the former CEO and Chief Financial Officer of sinking the company into insolvency through self-dealing and hidden debt transactions, saying in an adversary suit their actions were reckless.

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Worker Says Colo. Mining Co. Shorted Pay, Including Overtime

By Rachel Konieczny

A uranium mining company operating in Wyoming shorted hourly workers' pay by rounding down workers' recorded time and removing bonuses from overtime rate calculations, according to a proposed class and collective action filed Thursday in Colorado federal court.

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Jenner & Block Adds Crowell Energy Partner To DC Office

By Jack Rodgers

Jenner & Block LLP said Thursday it has hired the former co-leader of Crowell & Moring LLP's appellate practice, who worked on a range of energy matters there and spent over a decade of her career as a senior attorney with the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

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SolaREIT Names New GC, Transaction Counsel

By Isaac Monterose

Renewable energy real estate investment company SolaREIT has hired Marisa McCurdy as its new general counsel and Daniel Leppert as its new transaction counsel, the company announced Thursday.

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How Orbital Data Centers May Test NEPA's Reach

With environmental and scientific groups recently pushing back against the Federal Communications Commission's proposal to exempt massive data center satellite constellations from review under the National Environmental Policy Act, the question of whether NEPA even applies to projects in space turns on three closely related issues, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Series

Ballet Makes Me A Better Lawyer

A lifetime of learning and performing ballet taught me that success — whether in dance or practicing law — comes only through hours of thorough preparation, boundless energy and relentless effort, says Sharon Katz-Pearlman at Greenberg Traurig.

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Senior Lawyers Survey: Tell Us About Your Career

How are senior lawyers adapting to evolving career paths and emerging technologies? Share your perspective in this five-minute survey.

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Legal Sector Hiring Grows For 5th Month, But At Slower Pace

By Rachel Rippetoe

The legal sector saw 600 more jobs in August, growing for the fifth consecutive month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

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3rd Circ. Revives Malpractice Claim Against Kirkland Atty

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey divorcee may once again pursue a legal malpractice claim against a Kirkland & Ellis LLP attorney who she said lost her millions by mishandling estate documents, after the Third Circuit found it could be possible to link her alleged damages to the lawyer's work.

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Quinn Emanuel DQ'd In Defamation Case Over Stock Reports

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas federal court on Friday booted Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP from representing a Hong Kong manufacturing company in its defamation lawsuit against investment research service Muddy Waters LLC after finding that the law firm had received relevant confidential information when it represented Muddy Waters in a related government probe.

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DC Panel's Rare Rebuke Over AI Errors Flags Rules Gap

By Andrea Keckley

A D.C. appellate court panel issued a rare sua sponte sanctions order on Thursday after finding nonexistent case citations in a brief filed by a McCabe Weisberg & Conway LLC attorney representing Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. in a foreclosure action, noting an apparent gap in the rules governing the court's sanctions authority.

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Motley Rice Founder Remembered As Titan Of Mass Tort Bar

By Adrian Cruz

Motley Rice LLC co-founder Joseph F. Rice, who died Thursday, was remembered by former colleagues and friends as a "transformational" attorney and "giant in the civil litigation bar" who spent decades working on some of the most high-profile mass torts and obtaining landmark asbestos, opioid and tobacco settlements.

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Sinema Can't Duck Suit Over Affair With Ex-Security Guard

By Y. Peter Kang

A North Carolina federal judge Friday denied former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's bid to escape the suit brought by the ex-wife of a former member of her security detail with whom she allegedly had an affair, saying the district court indeed has the authority to adjudicate the case.

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Roundup

Injury Law Roundup: Meta's Social Media Addiction Deal

By Y. Peter Kang

A $17.1 billion social media addiction settlement between Meta and 29 states and Johnson & Johnson's $5.5 billion ovarian cancer deal over its talc products lead Law360's Injury Law Roundup.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Morgan Verkamp LLC and Sparacino PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eleventh Circuit held that the False Claims Act's qui tam provisions do not violate the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Attorneys and academics differ over whether the moves by Meta's in-house lawyers ahead of its $17 billion settlement over claims its content harmed children were legal missteps or defensible efforts to manage litigation risk. And the co-founders of a partner-only law firm told Law360 Pulse how their technology reduces intake, billing and other nonbillable tasks that attorneys would normally perform. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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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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