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Environmental
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May 28, 2025
NRC Has No Defense For New License Rules, DC Circ. Told
Two anti-nuclear power groups are contending before the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is offering inconsistent arguments in defense of updated regulations for renewing nuclear power plant operating licenses.
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May 28, 2025
Feds Ask SC Judge To Toss Suit Over Frozen Grant Funding
The Trump administration urged a South Carolina federal judge to dismiss a complaint challenging its authority to freeze and terminate grant funding for lack of jurisdiction, as it also appeals an order directing it to restore several dozen grants funded by Congress.
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May 28, 2025
Feds Tell Justices 9th Circ. Wrongly OK'd CWA Citizen Suit
The federal government is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to sink an environmental group's Clean Water Act citizen suit seeking to enforce the terms of a Washington state-issued pollutant-discharge permit that is stricter than the law requires.
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May 28, 2025
Judge Shields NY Congestion Pricing From Feds' Threats
New York's congestion pricing program can keep running at least through the fall, after a federal judge on Wednesday signaled that the U.S. Department of Transportation likely overstepped its authority by purportedly terminating a federal agreement that gave congestion pricing the green light.
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May 28, 2025
Feds Won't Appeal Offshore Fish Farming Permit Decision
The federal government will not appeal a decision to set aside a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' permit intended to speed up industrial aquaculture in public ocean waters, ending the dispute and any future use of the structures off the country's eastern and western coasts.
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May 28, 2025
CFPB Energy Loan Rule An 'Unlawful Power Grab,' Suit Says
Lenders that finance clean energy home improvement projects on Wednesday challenged a Biden-era rule that applies standard mortgage protections to loans where homeowners pay for such projects through property tax bills, saying the rule is unlawful and threatens to kill their business.
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May 28, 2025
DOL Tells 5th Circ. It Will Craft New ESG Rule For 401(k) Plans
The U.S. Department of Labor told the Fifth Circuit on Wednesday that it will launch new rulemaking and move "as expeditiously as possible" to replace Biden administration regulations on whether fiduciaries can consider issues like climate change and social justice when choosing retirement plan investments.
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May 28, 2025
SunCoke Energy Expanding With $325M Phoenix Global Buy
SunCoke Energy Inc. said Wednesday that it has agreed to acquire Phoenix Global, a privately held provider of metals and mining services, for $325 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
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May 28, 2025
Groups Claim Mass. Offshore Wind Will Harm Views, Wildlife
Opponents of a permitted offshore wind project that would provide power to Massachusetts have sued in D.C. federal court, arguing turbines would bring problems for marine life and disrupt views on the historic islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.
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May 28, 2025
Insurance Atty Talks FEMA Cuts As Storm, Fire Seasons Near
As hurricane and wildfire seasons approach, Anthony Lopez, founder of the law firm Your Insurance Attorney, told ¼«ËÙÈü³µ Real Estate Authority that with natural disasters intensifying, the Trump administration's cuts to FEMA are likely to put more pressure on states and property owners in an already challenging insurance environment.
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May 27, 2025
Musk, DOGE Fail To Nix States' Suit Against 'Limitless' Power
Fourteen states can proceed in their lawsuit challenging Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency's influence in the federal government after a D.C. federal judge Tuesday refused to toss their suit, rejecting the government's contention that Musk wasn't subject to the U.S. Constitution's appointments clause.
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May 27, 2025
Proterra Investors Push For Final OK Of $29M Settlement
Proterra Inc. investors have asked a California federal court to sign off on a $29 million deal resolving allegations that the bankrupt electric-vehicle maker's executives misled them about liquidity issues, according to a motion for final approval of the settlement filed Tuesday.
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May 27, 2025
Greenpeace Fights To Walk Back $666M Pipeline Verdict
Greenpeace on Tuesday continued its post-trial attack on a $666 million defamation and property damage case against Dakota Access pipeline builder Energy Transfer, telling a North Dakota judge that a lack of evidence requires overturning numerous jury findings.
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May 27, 2025
Gorsuch Says Oak Flat Ruling Will Harm Native Generations
The Supreme Court's decision to deny an Apache nonprofit's petition that looked to save a centuries-old Arizona Indigenous worship site from destruction to make way for a multibillion-dollar copper mine is a grievous mistake with consequences that threaten to reverberate for generations, Justice Neil Gorsuch said in a Tuesday dissent.
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May 27, 2025
Bayer, Monsanto On Hook For $611M Roundup Cancer Awards
A Missouri appellate panel Tuesday affirmed a trial court's $611 million award reduced from a jury's $1.56 billion verdict for three people who claimed their cancer was caused by Bayer unit Monsanto Co.'s Roundup weedkiller, saying a law professor's testimony about a Ninth Circuit decision was not prejudicial.
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May 27, 2025
9th Circ. Revives Tribes', Green Groups' Power Line Suit
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday revived a lawsuit challenging the federal government's decision to allow a 520-mile power line route through cultural sites, saying in a published opinion that a coalition of tribes and conservation groups plausibly alleged the government authorized construction before properly identifying historic sites the project affected.
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May 27, 2025
Expert Says DuPont Knew Of PFAS Risk At NJ Site
A former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policy adviser told a New Jersey federal court on Tuesday that E.I. du Pont de Nemours knew of the risk of "forever chemicals" and failed to disclose that risk to federal and Garden State regulators despite its obligation to do so.
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May 27, 2025
Trump Withdraws Biden's NEPA Greenhouse Gas Guidance
The White House Council on Environmental Quality on Tuesday said it's withdrawing 2023 National Environmental Policy Act guidance for federal agencies that are assessing the greenhouse gas and climate change effects of actions, including the approval of infrastructure projects.
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May 27, 2025
EV-Maker Polestar Faces Investor Suit Over Financial Reports
Swedish electrical vehicle company Polestar has been hit with a proposed shareholder class action accusing it of misleading investors by failing to maintain proper internal controls, which caused it to misreport liabilities and assets on its balance sheets for several quarters.
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May 27, 2025
DC Circ. Backs FERC In NY Grid Upgrade Cost Fight
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's refusal to allow New York utilities to earn investment returns from grid upgrades, saying the agency reasonably concluded that shifting from the current nonprofit approach was unwarranted.
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May 27, 2025
NC Justices Say Insured's Failure To Read Doesn't Bar Claim
North Carolina's highest court found a homeowner isn't barred from suing an insurance agency for negligence over false answers on a property insurance application even though he never read the document, saying context bears on his culpability.
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May 27, 2025
Ex-Solar CEO Can't Arbitrate Fraud Suit Now, Judge Says
The former CEO of a defunct solar company and its financial backers waived their rights to force Michigan residents into arbitration by extensively litigating a proposed class action that accused them of deceptive sales practices and racketeering, a federal judge ruled.
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May 27, 2025
LA County, Pasadena Shirking Eaton Fire Inspections, Suits Say
Two groups of California renters took to state court to sue Los Angeles County and the city of Pasadena for failing to properly inspect their homes after the Eaton Fire and for not making property owners decontaminate them.
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May 27, 2025
Feds Can't Turn Off NY Funding In Congestion Pricing Fight
A Manhattan federal judge on Tuesday temporarily blocked as "arbitrary and capricious" a Trump administration threat to withhold federal transportation funds from New York as part of a White House effort to undo New York City's congestion pricing program.
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May 27, 2025
High Court Won't Hear Apache's Bid To Undo Mining Decision
The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up a challenge by an Apache nonprofit that seeks to undo the federal government's transfer of nearly 2,500 acres of land to an Arizona copper mining company, a decision that could ultimately decide the fate of a centuries-old Indigenous worship site.
Expert Analysis
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4 Ways Women Attorneys Can Build A Legal Legacy
This Women’s History Month, women attorneys should consider what small, day-to-day actions they can take to help leave a lasting impact for future generations, even if it means mentoring one person or taking 10 minutes to make a plan, says Jackie Prester, a former shareholder at Baker Donelson.
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Cleanup Claim Characterization Key For Timeliness Inquiry
The Tenth Circuit's recent ruling in Atlantic Richfield Co. v. NL Industries, determining that ARCO's contribution claim was timely, highlights the importance of accurately characterizing a claim for recoupment of environmental cleanup costs as a cost-recovery action or contribution to avoid dismissal or recharacterization of the claim, say attorneys at Spencer Fane.
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A Judge's Pointers For Adding Spice To Dry Legal Writing
U.S. District Judge Fred Biery shares a few key lessons about how to go against the grain of the legal writing tradition by adding color to bland judicial opinions, such as by telling a human story and injecting literary devices where possible.
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How To Create A Unique Jury Profile For Every Case
Instead of striking potential jurors based on broad stereotypes or gut feelings, trial attorneys should create case-specific risk profiles that address the political climate, the specific facts of the case and the venue in order to more precisely identify higher-risk jurors, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.
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6th Circ. Ruling Paves Path Out Of Loper Bright 'Twilight Zone'
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright ruling created a twilight zone between express statutory delegations that trigger agency deference and implicit ones that do not, but the Sixth Circuit’s recent ruling in Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland crafted a two-part test for resolving cases within this gray area, say attorneys at Wiley.
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CO2 Oil Recovery Vs. Carbon Capture: Key Legal Differences
As more states seek primacy over carbon capture and storage wells, it is increasingly important for companies to understand the regulations surrounding CCS, and how they differ from the arguably less complex legal framework for the closely related technology of carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery, says Sarah Milocco at Husch Blackwell.
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Recent Cases Suggest ESG Means 'Ever-Shifting Guidelines'
U.S. courts have recently handed down a number of contradictory decisions on important environmental, social and governance issues, adding to an already complex mix of conflicting political priorities, new laws and changing regulatory guidance — but there are steps that companies can take to minimize risk, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.
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Navigating The Uncertain Future Of The Superfund PFAS Rule
The D.C. Circuit's recent grant of a pause in litigation while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reviews the Biden-era designation of two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances as "hazardous" under the Superfund law creates new uncertainty for companies — but more lawsuits are likely as long as the rule remains in effect, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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What To Know About Insurance Coverage For Greenwashing
As the number of public and private lawsuits relating to greenwashing dramatically grows, risk managers of companies making environmental claims should look to several types of insurance for coverage in the event of a suit, say attorneys at Hunton.
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7 Tips For Associates To Thrive In Hybrid Work Environments
Excerpt from
As the vast majority of law firms have embraced some type of hybrid work policy, associates should consider a few strategies to get the most out of both their in-person and remote workdays, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.
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Series
Playing Beach Volleyball Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My commitment to beach volleyball has become integral to my performance as an attorney, with the sport continually reminding me that teamwork, perseverance, professionalism and stress management are essential to both undertakings, says Amy Drushal at Trenam.
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Managing Anti-Corporate Juror Views Revealed By CEO Killing
After the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson laid bare deep-seated anti-corporate sentiments among the public, companies in numerous industries will have to navigate the influence of related juror biases on litigation dynamics, say Jorge Monroy and Keith Pounds at IMS Legal Strategies.
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Opinion
California Climate Lawsuit Bill Is Constitutionally Flawed
A bill in the California Legislature that would let victims of climate-related disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires sue oil and gas producers for spreading misinformation about climate change is too vague, retroactive and focused on one industry to survive constitutional scrutiny, says Kyla Christoffersen Powell at the Civil Justice Association of California.
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How Law Firms Can Counteract The Loneliness Epidemic
The legal industry is facing an urgent epidemic of loneliness, affecting lawyer well-being, productivity, retention and profitability, and law firm leaders should take concrete steps to encourage the development of genuine workplace connections, says Michelle Gomez at Littler and Gwen Mellor Romans at Herald Talent.
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5 Keys To Building Stronger Attorney-Client Relationships
Attorneys are often focused on being seen as the expert, but bonding with clients and prospects by sharing a few key personal details provides the basis for a caring, trusted and profoundly deeper business relationship, says Deb Feder at Feder Development.