Environmental

  • October 24, 2024

    Colo. Justices Hesitant To Extend Personhood To Elephants

    Colorado Supreme Court justices appeared unlikely Thursday to grant habeas corpus rights to elephants in a zoo, repeatedly asking an animal rights group seeking to send the elephants to a sanctuary where the court should draw the line on personhood.

  • October 24, 2024

    Dems From Storm-Impacted States Call For Probes Of Misinfo

    Democratic lawmakers from states recently impacted by Hurricanes Helene and Milton asked the leadership of three House committees on Wednesday to investigate and hold hearings on the "troubling surge" in the spread of misinformation, scams and conspiracy theories about the storms on social media.

  • October 24, 2024

    EPA, Air Force Commit To PFAS Plan For Tucson Airport

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Air Force said they're committing to a framework to address "forever chemical" contamination at the Tucson International Airport Area Superfund Site in southeastern Arizona.

  • October 24, 2024

    EPA Can't Rush Truck Electrification, DC Circ. Hears

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a trucking industry group have thrown their support behind challengers' attempts to upend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles, telling the D.C. Circuit that the agency is trying to accomplish too much too soon.

  • October 24, 2024

    DC Circ. Ruling Endangers Distressed Texas Area, Port Says

    The owner of the Port of Brownsville in Texas is urging the D.C. Circuit to consider the devastating impacts a panel's decision to vacate Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reauthorization orders for two major liquefied natural gas projects threatens to impose on the region.

  • October 24, 2024

    EPA Finalizes New Standards For Lead Paint Dust

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it's finalizing standards to better protect people from lead paint dust exposure, reducing the level considered hazardous and the levels that can remain after abatement work.

  • October 24, 2024

    Mining Eligible In Final Regs For Energy Manufacturing Credit

    The U.S. Treasury Department's final rules released Thursday on a valuable tax credit for manufacturing key components and materials used in clean energy technologies allow producers to take into account the costs to mine and extract critical minerals.

  • October 23, 2024

    Conn. Judge Rejects Utility's Defenses In Site Cleanup Battle

    An Avangrid Inc. unit hasn't sufficiently rebutted the Connecticut government's claims that it's taking too long to clean up the long-defunct English Station power plant site in New Haven under a partial consent order, a state court judge has ruled.

  • October 23, 2024

    Pa. County Defends Climate Change Suit Against BP, Chevron

    BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other major oil companies can't argue that a federal environmental statute sinks a climate change lawsuit because the claims fall outside of the law's purview, a Pennsylvania county told a state court.

  • October 23, 2024

    EPA's GHG Power Plant Rule Is Achievable, Scientists Say

    A half-dozen prominent scientists and engineers have told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to tap carbon capture and sequestration technology to reduce power plants' greenhouse gas pollution is on point and readily achievable.

  • October 23, 2024

    No More Coverage For Paper Co.'s Pollution Claim, Panel Says

    A WestRock Co. subsidiary that owned a Montana paper mill later identified as a Superfund site isn't entitled to additional coverage from its AIG insurer, an Illinois state appeals court ruled, saying two pollution conditions on the property were related and subject to a single $5 million limit of liability.

  • October 23, 2024

    Religion Law Can't Save Sacred Worship Site, High Court Told

    A law designed to protect religious freedom can't help an Apache nonprofit's bid to save a sacred worship site in Arizona from destruction, the federal government said, arguing that the tribe is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to nullify a congressional statute crafted to allow federal third-party land transfers.

  • October 23, 2024

    USDA Unveils $1.5B In Conservation, Climate-Smart Projects

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday revealed a $1.5 billion investment in 92 partner-driven conservation projects through the agency's Regional Conservation Partnership Program. 

  • October 23, 2024

    Judge Says Ex-Steward Hospital Nurse Row Out Of His Hands

    A Texas bankruptcy judge Wednesday declined to order the new owner of former Steward Health Care hospitals in Massachusetts to take back changes to nurses' union contracts it assumed under his sale order, saying it wasn't up to him to make the call.

  • October 23, 2024

    'Alkaline Water' Co. Hit With $5B In Punitive Damages

    A Nevada jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages Wednesday in a 15-plaintiff trial over liver damage linked to Real Water's "alkaline water," the largest verdict yet in ongoing litigation against the bankrupt company.

  • October 23, 2024

    EPA Can't Restart Crafting Smog Rule, DC Circ. Told

    A group of Democratic-led state governments is telling the D.C. Circuit that the Clean Air Act doesn't mandate reconsideration of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2023 "Good Neighbor" emissions regulation as two steel manufacturers say.

  • October 23, 2024

    Roundup Suit Pared As Preemption Claim Sways Mass. Judge

    A Massachusetts judge has dismissed portions of a suit claiming a woman's use of the weedkiller Roundup caused her cancer, ruling a federal labeling law preempts her theory that Monsanto failed to warn consumers about the chemical's dangers.

  • October 23, 2024

    Chemical Co. GC Fires Back At Pregnancy Bias Claims In NJ

    Arxada and its general counsel struck back at a former in-house attorney's claims in a New Jersey state court lawsuit that the specialty chemicals company unlawfully dismissed her in the days after she talked about taking leave to recover from a miscarriage.

  • October 22, 2024

    'Alkaline Water' Co. Owes $230M In Latest Liver Trial

    A Nevada state jury awarded $230 million Tuesday in the latest trial over liver damage from Real Water's "alkaline water" and sent the 15 plaintiffs, including a UFC fighter, to a punitive damages phase.

  • October 22, 2024

    Blink Investor Deal Gets Final OK, Attys Score $1.25M Fee

    A Florida federal judge has granted final approval to a $3.75 million settlement between electric-vehicle charging station operator Blink Charging Co. and a proposed class of investors who alleged the company mischaracterized the functionality of its charging network.

  • October 22, 2024

    Copper Mining Co. Asks High Court To Toss Sacred Site Suit

    A copper mining company that wants to build operations in a tribally sacred part of the Tonto National Forest has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to toss a challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling that allows for the transfer of nearly 2,500 acres of land.

  • October 22, 2024

    Walmart Pays $7.5M To End Hazardous Waste Disposal Suit

    Walmart Inc. has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of California and district attorneys of several counties who alleged the retail giant improperly disposed of hazardous and medical wastes from its locations to municipal landfills, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Tuesday.

  • October 22, 2024

    Feds Granted More Time For New Gulf Drilling Review

    A Maryland federal judge has agreed to delay the date by which she will vacate a National Marine Fisheries Service review of the effects of oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico after the agency explained that it would not be able to complete a new review by the original Dec. 20 deadline.

  • October 22, 2024

    Organic Food Group Asks 9th Circ. To Upend GMO Label Rule

    An organic food industry advocacy group urged the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday to reverse a district judge decision that largely left a Trump-era organic food labeling rule intact, saying the U.S. Department of Agriculture's implementation of a nationwide labeling law for genetically modified foods has been "arbitrary and capricious."

  • October 22, 2024

    Appliance Co., Customers Agree To End Stove Pollutant Row

    Luxury kitchen appliance maker Sub-Zero Group Inc. and the customers behind a proposed class action have agreed to drop the litigation, bringing to an end claims the company sold them gas stoves that emit "health-harming" pollutants.

Expert Analysis

  • New Law May Move Calif. Toward Fashion Sustainability

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    California’s recently signed Responsible Textile Recovery Act seeks to increase sustainability innovation in the fashion industry, but it could also create compliance hurdles for brands, especially smaller fashion houses that do not have ample resources, say Warren Koshofer and Maggie Franz at Michelman & Robinson.

  • Conn. Court Split May Lead To Vertical Forum Shopping

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    As shown by a recent ruling in State v. Exxon Mobil, Connecticut state and federal courts are split on personal jurisdiction, and until the Connecticut Supreme Court steps in, parties may be incentivized to forum shop, causing foreign entities to endure costly litigation and uncertain liability, says Matthew Gibbons at Shipman & Goodwin.

  • Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys

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    Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.

  • Enviro Policy Trends That Will Continue Beyond The Election

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    Come October in a presidential election year, the policy world feels like a winner-take-all scenario, with the outcome of the vote determining how or even whether we are regulated — but there are several key ongoing trends that will continue to drive environmental regulation regardless of the election results, say J. Michael Showalter and Samuel Rasche at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Series

    Collecting Art Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    The therapeutic aspects of appreciating and collecting art improve my legal practice by enhancing my observation skills, empathy, creativity and cultural awareness, says attorney Michael McCready.

  • Using Primacy And Recency Effects In Opening Statements

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    By understanding and strategically employing the primacy and recency effects in opening statements, attorneys can significantly enhance their persuasive impact, ensuring that their narrative is both compelling and memorable from the outset, says Bill Kanasky at Courtroom Sciences.

  • Opinion

    Supreme Court Must Halt For-Profit Climate Tort Proliferation

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    If the U.S. Supreme Court does not seize the opportunity presented by Honolulu v. Sunoco to reassert federal authority over interstate pollution regulation, the resulting frenzy of profit-driven environmental mass torts against energy companies will stunt American competitiveness and muddle climate policy, says Gale Norton at Liberty Energy.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Class Action Trend Tests Limit Of Courts' Equity Powers

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    A troubling trend has developed in federal class action litigation as some counsel and judges attempt to push injunctive relief classes under Rule 23(b)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure beyond the traditional limits of federal courts' equitable powers, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

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    In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy identifies practice tips from four recent class certification rulings involving denial of Medicare reimbursements, automobile insurance disputes, veterans' rights and automobile defects.

  • 6 Tips For Trying Cases Away From Home

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    A truly national litigation practice, by definition, often requires trying cases in jurisdictions across the country, which presents unique challenges that require methodical preparation and coordination both within the trial team and externally, say Edward Bennett and Suzanne Salgado at Williams & Connolly.

  • A Blueprint For Structuring An Effective Plaintiff Case Story

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    The number and size of nuclear verdicts continue to rise, in part because plaintiffs attorneys have become more adept at crafting compelling trial stories — and an analysis of these success stories reveals a 10-part framework for structuring an effective case narrative, says Jonathan Ross at Decision Analysis.

  • Series

    Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.

  • And Now A Word From The Panel: The MDL Map

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    An intriguing yet unpredictable facet of multidistrict litigation practice is venue selection for new MDL proceedings, and the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation considers many factors when it assigns an MDL venue, says Alan Rothman at Sidley Austin.

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