Judge Poised To OK NJ's $3B PFAS Deals With 3M, DuPont

By George Woolston

A Garden State federal judge on Wednesday signaled that she would sign off on proposed deals worth a combined $3 billion between New Jersey, 3M Co. and various DuPont entities to resolve the state's claims over contamination caused by the manufacture and discharge of forever chemicals.

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EPA Proposal Tightens Scope And Length Of NEPA Reviews

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday floated an overhaul of how it conducts environmental reviews that includes limiting the scope of what environmental impacts the agency considers and establishing a two-year deadline to complete reviews.

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It's Time To End Charges Against Indian Industrialist, Judge Told

By Cara Salvatore

An industrialist and two co-defendants urged a New York federal judge Wednesday to let federal prosecutors drop a fraud case concerning funding for a colossal Indian solar energy project and accept an $18 million deal with securities regulators, saying out-of-court talks revealed the criminal case's "legal and factual weaknesses."

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Md. Judge Tosses Gulf Species Suit After ESA Exemption

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration's March move to exempt all oil and gas drilling activities in the Gulf of Mexico from Endangered Species Act restrictions mooted a suit from environmentalists challenging previous guidelines for species protection in the Gulf as inadequate.

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CIT Orders Redo Of Kazakh Ferrosilicon Dumping Duty

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce must reconsider its determination that ferrosilicon from Kazakhstan is being dumped into the U.S., as it failed to properly consider whether some goods were actually moved to Canada, the U.S. Court of International Trade said.

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Duty Redo Approved For Chinese Steel Rack Exporter

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. Department of Commerce corrected issues with an antidumping duty administrative review of a Chinese steel rack exporter on remand, the U.S. Court of International Trade said in an opinion sustaining the government's remand determination.

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Green Groups Ask DC Circ. To Halt Pa. Oil Plant Extension

By Matthew Santoni

Four environmental groups have asked the D.C. Circuit to review the U.S. Department of Energy's emergency orders extending the life of a fossil fuel power plant outside Philadelphia, joining other litigation challenging the Trump administration's efforts to keep alive oil, gas and coal power generators that had been slated to shut down.

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Avangrid Workers Say Bad Fund Cost Them Up To $124M

By Brian Steele

An Avangrid unit's retention of an underperforming T. Rowe Price 401(k) fund has cost workers at least $45 million since 2020, and that figure is only expected to climb, according to an ERISA lawsuit in Connecticut federal court.

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Builder Files Ch. 11 Suit To Block Solar Panel Collections

By Clara Geoghegan

Residential developer Taylor Morrison has asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to bar the buyer of SunPower Corp.'s assets from contacting owners of homes it built, arguing the purchaser can't repossess installed solar panels to satisfy a $500,000 receivable.

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German Investors Seek OK Of $21M Award Against Spain

By Caroline Simson

Six dozen renewable energy investors asked a D.C. federal court to enforce an €18.3 million ($20.8 million) arbitral award against Spain, as the country awaits a certiorari decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in two similar cases that could come as soon as next week.

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Engineer Traded Off Microsoft's Nuclear Plans, Feds Say

By Sydney Price

An ex-Constellation Energy engineering manager was accused in an indictment in Delaware federal court and by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of trading securities using nonpublic information about the company's confidential plans with Microsoft Corp. to potentially relaunch an inactive nuclear reactor.

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EV Charging Co. Lenders, Ex-CEO Escape Liquidity Woes Suit

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge has trimmed claims and dismissed several defendants from a proposed investor class action against the current and former executives of bankrupt electric-vehicle charging infrastructure company Charge Enterprises Inc., who they allege concealed a liquidity crisis involving the company's founder and his investment advisory firm that allegedly precipitated Charge's bankruptcy.

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How NEPA Review Has Changed Since Seven County

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County instituted major changes to judicial review under the National Environmental Policy Act, courts are effectively applying the decision, but where things go from here may be up to agencies and project proponents, say attorneys at Venable.

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A Midyear Look At Antiterrorism Act Jurisprudence And Policy

Plaintiffs have filed comparably fewer new actions under the Antiterrorism Act this year, though a handful of key decisions further defined the statute’s aiding-and-abetting standard and highlighted continuing risks for financial services companies, say attorneys at Skadden.

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Why Highly Specialized Experts May Risk Exclusion At Trial

Expert witnesses with highly specific areas of focus may be vulnerable to exclusion in court, making it important for attorneys to check how potential witnesses' qualifications can be bolstered by their publications and other professional activities, say Evan Weisberg and Christopher Cunio at Hunton, and Kevin Cahill at FTI Consulting.

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How 3 Courts Are Approaching AI Adoption

By Emily Sawicki

The rules surrounding artificial intelligence experimentation in courts run the gamut from court systems offering proprietary tools and training to unwritten policies that essentially amount to don't ask, don't tell.

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Analysis

With Data And AI, Whistleblowers Set Off An FCA Tidal Wave

By Phillip Bantz

Whistleblowers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to comb through public data in search of potential False Claims Act cases, unleashing a flood of new complaints that are shaking up white collar defense and government enforcement efforts while subjecting more companies to potentially false allegations, experts say.

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Conn. Justices Threaten Sanctions For AI Errors

By Andrea Keckley

The Connecticut Supreme Court has threatened to sanction GLG Law LLC and one of its attorneys for submitting documents in two cases "that misrepresented the law through the use of generative artificial intelligence," according to a Tuesday order that summoned them to appear in court next month.

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Atty DQ Over Inadvertent Doc Disclosure Overturned

By Y. Peter Kang

A California state appeals court has upended the disqualification of defense counsel in a sexual battery suit, saying documents undermining the case that were accidentally produced via a Dropbox link were not privileged.

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DOJ Nominee Questioned About Deleted Social Media Posts

By Courtney Bublé

A nominee for a top U.S. Department of Justice position, who is a real estate attorney turned tech entrepreneur, came under fire on Wednesday for past social media posts that he's now deleted.

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Booker, Cassidy Press DOJ On Trump Immunity Deal

By Courtney Bublé

Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., wrote to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday expressing "serious concerns" about the alleged immunity for President Donald Trump, his family and businesses in the controversial settlement he reached with the IRS.

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