Analysis

Feds' Bid To Wipe Calif. Clean Car Regs Spells More Upheaval

By Linda Chiem

The Trump administration's assault on California's more than decade-old clean car regulations deliberately upends the U.S. auto industry's transition toward alternative-powered vehicles, spelling even more regulatory uncertainty as the antagonistic political climate and long legal battles persist, experts say.

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Justice Kagan Denies Apache Bid To Block Ariz. Land Transfer

By Crystal Owens

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday declined to block a federal government land transfer in Arizona after four Apache women looked to stop the exchange on behalf of their daughters, arguing that the area contains a site used for a coming of age ceremony that will be destroyed.

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States Join Push To Revive EPA Climate Danger Finding

By Julie Manganis

A coalition of state and local governments on Thursday became the latest group to ask that the D.C. Circuit overrule the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rescission last month of its long-held position on the danger greenhouse gases pose to public health.

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PI Loses Bid To Block Extradition To US On Hacking Charges

By Ronan Barnard

A private investigator accused of hacking activists on behalf of ExxonMobil to subvert climate change litigation lost his bid on Thursday to overturn a decision to allow his extradition to the U.S. to face trial.

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FERC Chair Aims To Ease Energy Squeeze From War On Iran

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S.-Israel war on Iran that is roiling global energy markets underscores the need for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve gas infrastructure projects more quickly so that energy prices can be kept in check, FERC Chair Laura Swett said Thursday.

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Brief

Commerce Investigating Chinese, Indian Graphite Electrodes

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce on Thursday said it will open probes into imported Chinese and Indian electrodes used for smelting to determine whether those goods have been subsidized or sold at less than fair value, joining an ongoing U.S. International Trade Commission investigation.

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Alaska Natives Retain Access To Land In Petroleum Reserve

By Joyce Hanson

An Alaska federal judge has stayed the Trump administration's cancellation of a conservation right-of-way issued to a tribal group seeking access to about 1 million acres of key habitat for a caribou herd within the vast National Petroleum Reserve located on the state's North Slope.

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Oil Co. Needn't Give $105M To Bond Insurers, Judge Rules

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas federal judge found Thursday that two insurers are not entitled to receive some $105 million in collateral from Houston-based oil and gas producer W&T Offshore, approving a magistrate judge's report that noted the insurers' allegations are mere "speculation."

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Texas Court Erases $7.8M In Taxes On Stored Export Oil

By Michael Nunes

A Texas company storing presold crude oil to be exported to foreign countries was wrongly taxed $7.8 million by a county assessor, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, reversing a trial court decision.

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Oil Company Sues X Critic Over Assets Amid Investor Suit

By José Luis Martínez

Oil and gas asset company Next Bridge Hydrocarbons Inc. claims that an X commenter has falsely accused the company of misleading investors about the value of its assets, in a dispute that comes as investors are appealing the dismissal of claims against the Texas company about misrepresentation of assets.

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PE Behemoths Eye $10B OpenAI JV, Plus More Rumors

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity firms, including TPG and Bain Capital, are considering forming a $10 billion joint venture with OpenAI, Finnish lift maker Kone Oyj is mulling an acquisition of its rival TK Elevator, and Australian investment firm Macquarie has backed out of a bidding war for a stake in Kuwait's oil pipeline network due to the conflict in the Middle East.

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Zimbabwe Urges Justices To Pass On $50M Award Suit

By Jack McLoone

Zimbabwe urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday not to review a D.C. Circuit decision from last summer ending litigation seeking to enforce an 11-year-old, $50 million arbitral award against that African country, arguing that the question presented is "narrow and unimportant."

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Duke Energy Settlement Raises Key Antitrust Questions

The recent federal court settlement in Duke Energy v. NTE Carolinas II comes in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's failure to address a Fourth Circuit decision in the matter, calling into question the core purpose and effect of antitrust laws, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.

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Series

Coaching Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Coaching youth soccer for my 7-year-old son's team has sharpened how I communicate with clients, prepare witnesses, work within teams and think about leadership, making me a more thoughtful and effective lawyer in many ways, says Joshua Holt at Smith Currie.

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DOJ Rebuked Over Lack Of Candor For 'Imperious Client'

By Jack Karp

A Florida federal judge has rebuked government attorneys for failing to be up-front about legal authority that contradicts their position in a habeas case, warning them not to let their "imperious client" get between them and their ethical obligations.

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The Hypnosis That Helped Send A Man To Death Row

By Marco Poggio

The capital murder conviction of Charles Don Flores, a man on Texas’ death row, hinged on a courtroom identification by a witness who had previously undergone hypnosis. His lawyers are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, after Texas’ top court shot down his claims that the hypnosis session contaminated the witness’s memory and tainted her identification.

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Ore. Atty Sanctioned $10K For Brief With Fabricated Citations

By Hailey Konnath

An Oregon appellate court has ordered an attorney to pay $10,000 for filing an opening brief containing fabricated case citations, quotations that "do not exist anywhere in Oregon case law" and other inaccuracies, according to an opinion.

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Where Calif. State Courts Landed On Generative AI Use Rules

By Emily Sawicki

The majority of California's 58 superior courts — together making up the country's largest trial court system — have decided to greenlight the use of generative artificial intelligence in their work this year, a Law360 investigation found.

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Legal Sector Bracing For Impact Of Del. Corp. Law Changes

By Rose Krebs

Now that the Delaware Supreme Court has signed off on controversial corporate law amendments, the legal industry is anxiously awaiting the real-world impacts of those changes, panelists at Tulane University Law School's Corporate Law Institute said on Friday.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: $3M Jury Verdict, GEO Appeal Denial

By Orlando Lorenzo

A Philadelphia federal judge rejected bids to disturb a $3 million jury award and impose sanctions on plaintiff's counsel arising from proceedings he described as "near-daily Festivus celebrations, where everyone got to air their grievances 'for the sake of the record'" and a Detroit man saw his murder conviction vacated after 27 years due to the case's reliance on a coerced confession and a lack of physical evidence, among other access to justice stories you may have missed.

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Bondi Keeps Ousted Wisconsin US Atty With New Title

By Lauren Berg

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi swapped Brad D. Schimel's title from interim U.S. attorney to first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in order to keep him in charge of the office after his tenure expired earlier this week.

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Beasley Allen Can't Halt DQ Ruling In J&J Talc Litigation

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state appeals court has refused to pause its decision disqualifying the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, according to a court order.

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Up Next At High Court: Late Ballots And 'Last-Mile' Drivers

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will kick off its March oral arguments session by reviewing disputes over the validity of state laws allowing late-arriving mail-in ballots to be counted in federal elections and whether "last-mile" delivery drivers qualify for the transportation worker exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act. 

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Top SEC Enforcer Signals Continuity After Ryan Departure

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's acting enforcement chief said Friday that the agency will continue to "focus on quality over quantity" when it comes to the cases it brings, projecting continuity with his predecessor's approach after her abrupt departure from the agency earlier this week.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen an ex-professional footballer revive a dispute with Charles Russell Speechlys, Virgin Media face a group data protection claim after hundreds of thousands of customers' personal details were exposed online for months, and Mishcon de Reya sued by a real estate private equity firm founded by a former Morgan Stanley executive.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Major shareholder groups sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In the meantime, some attorneys think the sanctions that judges are issuing to lawyers over AI-generated errors won't be enough to stop the problem. 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

Baron & Budd PC, Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP and Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit revived a major hospital chain's False Claims Act suit accusing large pharmaceutical companies of massive overcharges in a prominent drug discount program.

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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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