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August 16, 2024
Real Estate Recap: Cases To Watch, DC Flooding, NYC Hotels
Catch up on the past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including the commercial real estate cases to watch in 2024's second half, one BigLaw attorney's thoughts on new Washington, D.C., flood construction rules and the NYC hotel license bill that has hospitality attorneys rattled.
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August 16, 2024
Florida Unlikely To Act Quickly On Condo Law Cost Concerns
Florida lawmakers appear unlikely to take preemptive action to modify condominium safety laws enacted after the deadly 2021 building collapse in the town of Surfside, despite concerns that approaching year-end deadlines for mandated structural inspections and reserve studies will lead to overwhelming financial burdens for many residents.
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August 16, 2024
Army Corps Says Co. Didn't Properly Present $29M Claim
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has urged a Court of Federal Claims judge to cut monetary claims from a Saudi Arabian construction firm's $28.8 million suit over a contract termination, saying the contractor hadn't filed a formal claim before suing.
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August 16, 2024
Feds Drop Extortion Case Against Convicted Ex-Labor Leader
Federal prosecutors want to dismiss their extortion case against former International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 business manager John Dougherty, who was convicted of bribery and embezzlement and sentenced to six years in prison, but whose trial on charges related to allegedly threatening a contractor ended with a hung jury.
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August 16, 2024
Rhode Island Sues Cos. For Missing Washington Bridge Flaws
Rhode Island on Friday accused more than a dozen contractors of negligence following the "catastrophic" emergency shutdown of the Washington Bridge, saying the companies missed critical structural deficiencies that has forced the state to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to replace the bridge entirely.
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August 16, 2024
7th Circ. Limits Collectives' Reach In H-2A Workers' OT Case
Collective suits are similar to mass actions consolidating individual cases, a split Seventh Circuit panel found Friday, ruling in a Fair Labor Standards Act overtime suit from H-2A temporary agricultural workers that a court needs to establish jurisdiction over each member of the collective.
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August 16, 2024
Atty Gets 32 Months In Prison For Bribing Chicago Alderman
An Illinois federal judge on Friday sentenced an immigration attorney and real estate developer convicted of bribing former Chicago Alderman Ed Burke to two years and eight months in prison, maintaining prison time is warranted because the lawyer initiated the bribe and tried to hide it from federal agents and the grand jury.
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August 16, 2024
6th Circ. Nixes Union Local's Win In Steel Co. Benefit Row
The Sixth Circuit has reversed a judgment that a reinforced-steel contractor owes about $2 million in unpaid fringe benefit contributions to journeymen who traveled from other states to work on a project in Michigan, finding there was insufficient evidence to support the award.
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August 16, 2024
DC Circ. Rolls Back Pipeline Safety Rules
The D.C. Circuit on Friday threw out a handful of new safety standards for gas transmission pipelines set by the U.S. Department of Transportation, ruling that federal regulators failed to explain why their benefits outweighed their costs.
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August 16, 2024
Insurer Seeks Early Win In Faulty Home Construction Dispute
A construction company's insurer echoed its stance that its insured is not owed coverage for an underlying faulty workmanship lawsuit, telling a Georgia federal court that the defects alleged do not equate to property damage outside the contractor's own work, thus falling outside the policy's scope of coverage.
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August 16, 2024
DC Circ. OKs Energy Cos.' $395M Spain Award Suits
The D.C. Circuit on Friday ruled that district courts have jurisdiction to enforce some $395 million in arbitral awards issued against Spain after the country rolled back economic incentives for renewable energy projects, but took no position on the awards' ultimate enforceability.
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August 15, 2024
Judge Rejects GE's Bid To Pull Plug On Contamination Suit
A Louisiana federal judge on Wednesday refused to let General Electric escape a lawsuit alleging it is liable for widespread environmental contamination caused by a now-closed pressure valve manufacturing facility that GE used to own.
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August 15, 2024
Baker McKenzie Adds 2 A&O Shearman Attys In Johannesburg
Baker McKenzie is beefing up its global disputes practice at its Johannesburg office with the arrival of two attorneys from A&O Shearman and another from Cliffe Dekker, the firm announced Thursday.
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August 15, 2024
Pa. Utility Regulator Insists It Can Reject Grid Project
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is urging the Third Circuit to reinstate its denial of a transmission project regional grid operator PJM Interconnection approved, saying the Federal Power Act and PJM's tariff can't be used to override its rejection of a "wasteful and counterproductive project."
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August 15, 2024
6th Circ. Finds Biden Had Power To Fire Former NLRB GC
President Joe Biden lawfully fired former National Labor Relations Board general counsel Peter Robb more than three years ago, the Sixth Circuit ruled, with the appeals court saying removal protections for the agency's top prosecutor would affect the official's accountability to the president.
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August 15, 2024
Conn. Couple, Cos. Clash In Waterfront Access Suit
A married couple and several companies are battling in Connecticut state court over the companies' motion to personally examine two related Bridgeport properties and other areas in the couple's waterfront access suit.
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August 15, 2024
Baha Mar Builder Blames Developer Debt As $1.5B Trial Wraps
Counsel for the Chinese state-owned construction firm that built the Bahamian luxury resort Baha Mar closed out a bench trial in New York state court on Thursday arguing that it was the resort developer's overleveraged debt, not delays in the building process, that led to $1.5 billion in losses.
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August 15, 2024
Federal Circuit Upholds Duties On Steel Nails From Taiwan
The Federal Circuit upheld the "dumping margin" duties charged on certain Taiwanese nail imports, finding that the U.S. Department of Commerce had been unable to wring detailed data out of some of the producers and was thus justified in relying on outside facts when calculating the rates.
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August 15, 2024
White Collar Partner Duo Joins Duane Morris In NY
Duane Morris has hired two new trial partners in New York who've spent the last 15 years working together as white collar attorneys at Peckar & Abramson.
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August 15, 2024
Asphalt Co. To Pay $6.5M For Criminal Bid-Rigging Scheme
A Detroit-area asphalt paving company was sentenced Thursday to pay $6.5 million after it pled guilty to participating in a sprawling bid-rigging scheme in Michigan, with federal prosecutors alleging the company's leaders worked with competitors to drive up the price of paving contracts.
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August 14, 2024
Top Stories From Real Estate's Latest Quarterly Updates
Catch up on the headlines made by the largest public real estate companies during their latest quarterly earnings calls with investors, from data centers and lease deals to market forecasts and casinos.
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August 14, 2024
Biz Says Mich. Cities Ignore Taxpayers In Fee-Or-Tax Fight
A pipe fitting business has urged the Michigan Supreme Court to reject municipal organizations' "histrionic" arguments that cities' financial stability will be in jeopardy if the top court finds Detroit's fire inspection fee is a disguised tax, saying the groups are disregarding citizens' rights to be free from illegal taxes.
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August 14, 2024
BP Unit Can't Escape Truck Stop Suit, Developers Claim
Companies suing a BP subsidiary for terminating their truck stop franchise agreement and leaving them stuck with unrecoverable development costs hit back against its "shotgun approach" to have their suit seeking more than $300 million in damages thrown out, telling an Ohio federal judge that their complaint is grounded in compelling claims.
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August 14, 2024
Ohio Panel Says Union Wage Dispute Filed In Wrong Court
An Ohio state appeals court declined to rule on a union's appeal in its suit over whether the state's prevailing wage law pertains to the construction of a college dormitory by a public university because the union sued in the wrong county, avoiding deciding a matter of first impression.
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August 14, 2024
NC DOT Looks To Ditch Race Bias Suit Over $17.8M Megasite
The North Carolina Department of Transportation wants an early exit from a subcontractor's suit claiming that its Black employees were met with racial discrimination on a large development site, saying the subcontractor's real beef is with the main contractor on the project.
Expert Analysis
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How Justices Upended The Administrative Procedure Act
In its recent Loper Bright, Corner Post and Jarkesy decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court fundamentally changed the Administrative Procedure Act in ways that undermine Congress and the executive branch, shift power to the judiciary, curtail public and business input, and create great uncertainty, say Alene Taber and Beth Hummer at Hanson Bridgett.
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Vendor Rights Lessons From 2 Chapter 11 Cases
A Texas federal court’s recent critical vendor order in the Zachry Holdings Chapter 11 filing, as well as a settlement between Rite Aid and McKesson in New Jersey federal court last year, shows why suppliers must object to critical vendor motions that do not recognize creditors' legal rights, says David Conaway at Shumaker.
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Understanding 2 Types Of Construction Payment Clauses
Given the recent trend of states prohibiting pay-if-paid clauses in construction clauses in favor of fortifying contractor protections with pay-when-paid clauses, parties involved in construction projects should take care to understand the nuances between the two clauses, say Jeffery Mullen and Josephine Bahn at Cozen O'Connor.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Nuclear Power Can Help Industrial Plants Get To Net-Zero
In the race to fight climate change and achieve net-zero emissions, the industrial sector currently faces immense challenges — but the integration of nuclear energy is a promising solution, so companies should consider the financial and regulatory issues, opportunities, and risk-mitigating factors, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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Bid Protest Spotlight: Misplaced Info, Trade-Offs, Proteges
James Tucker at MoFo examines three recent decisions concerning the consequences of providing solicited information in the wrong section of a bid proposal, the limits of agency discretion in technical merit, best-value trade-off evaluations, and the weight of the experience and capabilities of small businesses in mentor-protégé joint venture qualification.
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3 Leadership Practices For A More Supportive Firm Culture
Traditional leadership styles frequently amplify the inherent pressures of legal work, but a few simple, time-neutral strategies can strengthen the skills and confidence of employees and foster a more collaborative culture, while supporting individual growth and contribution to organizational goals, says Benjamin Grimes at BKG Leadership.
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E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Hyperlinked Documents
Recent rulings show that counsel should engage in early discussions with clients regarding the potential of hyperlinked documents in electronically stored information, which will allow for more deliberate negotiation of any agreements regarding the scope of discovery, say attorneys at Sidley.
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Loper Bright Limits Federal Agencies' Ability To Alter Course
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to dismantle Chevron deference also effectively overrules its 2005 decision in National Cable & Telecommunications Association v. Brand X, greatly diminishing agencies' ability to change regulatory course from one administration to the next, says Steven Gordon at Holland & Knight.
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Series
Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer
As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.
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Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act
As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.
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Series
After Chevron: NRC Is Shielded From Loper Bright's Effects
While the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Loper Bright v. Relentless decision brought an end to Chevron deference, Congress' unique delegation of discretionary authority to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will likely insulate it from the additional judicial scrutiny that other federal agencies will face, say Ryan Lighty and Scott Clausen at Morgan Lewis.
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Shipping Containers As Building Elements Require Diligence
With the shipping container market projected to double between 2020 and 2028, repurposing containers as storage units, office spaces and housing may become more common, but developers must make sure they comply with requirements that can vary by intended use and location, says Steven Otto at Crosbie Gliner.
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How Loper Bright Weakens NEPA Enviro Justice Strategy
The National Environmental Policy Act is central to the Biden administration's environmental justice agenda — but the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo casts doubt on the government's ability to rely on NEPA for this purpose, and a pending federal case will test the strategy's limits, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.