NY's Landmark Climate Change Superfund Law Blocked

By Hailey Konnath

A New York federal judge Monday held that New York's Climate Change Superfund Act is preempted by federal law and cannot be enforced, saying the Clean Air Act does not authorize the Empire State to roll out its own emissions compensation scheme.

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DC Circ. Sides With FERC On Pipeline Project Approval

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission made no mistake when it greenlit a project to improve the East Tennessee Natural Gas pipeline and to allow the energy company to push the cost of those improvements along to customers, the D.C. Circuit has ruled.

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5th Circ. Judges Cast Doubt On Fight Over La. LNG Permit

By Keith Goldberg

A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday expressed skepticism that environmental groups had standing to challenge Louisiana's approval of a preconstruction permit for a major liquefied natural gas export terminal in Cameron Parish.

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3rd Circ. OKs Ex-Biofuel Execs' Fraud Subsidy Convictions

By Kat Lucero

The Third Circuit upheld two former biofuels executives' fraud convictions tied to IRS and EPA fuel subsidies, denying them a retrial based on claims that a Pennsylvania lower court improperly refused to provide jurors more information on the agencies' regulations.

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How Did Litigants Fare In Judge Albright's 55 Patent Trials?

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright oversaw more than 50 patent trials between his 2018 arrival on the bench and planned Monday departure, and in a surprise for many attorneys, there was a near-even split between victories for patent owners and accused infringers.

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Brief

EU Sets Evidence Standard For Steel Duty Anti-Evasion Rule

By Jack McLoone

The European Commission on Monday established the types of evidence that those that import steel into the bloc will need to provide to satisfy new rules requiring clearer information about the country of origin for such products.

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3 Firms Lead $4.4B Permian Midland Basin Asset Sale

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Midstream energy company Oneok unveiled plans to acquire Brazos Midstream's Permian Midland Basin natural gas gathering and processing assets in a deal valued at roughly $4.425 billion and built by three law firms.

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Citigroup Must Face RICO Suit Over Mexico Fraud Scheme

By Katryna Perera

A Florida magistrate judge said Monday bondholder plaintiffs have standing to pursue racketeering claims in a suit accusing Citigroup of running a massive cash advance fraud scheme, finding that although the "operative locus" of the fraud was in Mexico, a large part of Citigroup's alleged conduct occurred in the United States.

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Texas Court Sends Oxy Carbon Capture Claims To Arbitration

By Caroline Simson

A Texas appellate court has revived Occidental Petroleum's attempt to arbitrate a multimillion-dollar dispute stemming from a project to deploy a technology aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in Australia, saying a tribunal in British Columbia must decide for itself whether it has jurisdiction.

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SLB Buying Kelvion In $4.1B Data Center Cooling Deal

By Al Barbarino

Global energy technology company SLB said Monday it has agreed to acquire Apollo-backed Kelvion, a provider of thermal management and heat exchange technologies, in a $4.1 billion deal that SLB said will expand its role in the rapidly growing data center infrastructure space. 

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SC Panel Waives Scrutiny On Kirkland-Guided Data Center

By Nate Beck

South Carolina regulators have decided not to apply a law requiring construction approval to a 450-megawatt, natural gas-powered project proposed by a Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised data center builder, despite calls from an environmental group for more scrutiny of the development.

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Shareholders Say Generator Co. Overhyped Data Center Deal

By Isaac Monterose

A shareholder in Hyliion Holdings Corp. is accusing the linear generator manufacturer in Texas federal court of exaggerating the potential success of its business partnership with an AI infrastructure company that specializes in data centers.

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NFL Legend Emmitt Smith, Partners Sued Over Solar Venture

By Jarek Rutz

A Native American economic development entity Monday sued former NFL star running back Emmitt Smith and several business partners in the Delaware Chancery Court, accusing them of diverting a $2.5 million loan meant for a Texas solar project and leaving the joint venture unable to repay the money.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week saw disputes over a $200 million federal grant, a $1.7 billion software take-private deal, the ouster of Better.com founder Vishal Garg and a proposed $4 million settlement stemming from an electric vehicle company's SPAC merger.

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Simpson Thacher Welcomes DC Energy Atty From Skadden

By Andrea Keckley

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP announced Monday that it has welcomed an energy and infrastructure partner from Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.

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Opinion

Justices Gave Energy Industry A Needed Constitutional Reset

Energy companies must understand the regulatory and compliance implications of two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings reaffirming that agencies must derive their legitimacy from faithfully executing the law, says Brunini Grantham's Curt Hébert, former member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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Ex-Clifford Chance Attys Fight Bid To Toss Clawback Suit

By Ryan Boysen

The two partners facing a $6 million clawback demand by Clifford Chance LLP have again asked a federal judge to decide whether English or New York law should govern the arbitration, claiming the firm's partnership agreement is unclear.

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New Report Rings Alarm On Threats To Judicial Independence

By Jack Karp

Verbal attacks on judges, disinformation about the courts and the defiance of court orders are undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and significantly affecting individual judges' ability to do their jobs, a report out Monday says.

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Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: NYT, J&J, Azerbaijan

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 details a jury verdict against The New York Times in a suit involving its reporting on a shooting in Alabama, and highlights a judge's decision to spare researchers from a suit by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary over their talc research.

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House Passes Bill To Curb Secret Prosecutor Orders

By Courtney Bublé

The House passed a bipartisan bill via voice vote Monday afternoon to add transparency to prosecutors' use of nondisclosure orders for telephone service providers.

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Brief

House Passes Bill Adding Texas, California Court Sites

By Courtney Bublé

The House voted 378-10 on Monday evening to expand access to federal courts in Texas and California, the two most populous states in the nation.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: MassBar, Kirkland, Troutman

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' legal landscape saw a sizzling summer finish, with several major firms making hires. Kirkland added a veteran white collar defense attorney, Troutman bolstered its real estate team and Day Pitney nabbed an experienced corporate attorney.

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