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Environmental
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March 11, 2025
Art Loft Building's Toxicity Was Disclosed, Expert Testifies
A defense toxicologist told a Los Angeles jury Tuesday that residents in a large live-work art building received warning of carcinogenic chemicals in the soil underneath, supporting a real estate company's argument that the statute of limitations blocks the claims.
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March 11, 2025
Trump Admin Shutters EPA's Enviro Justice Office
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday dissolved its more than 30-year-old environmental justice and civil rights office, the latest in a string of EPA actions targeting efforts to ease pollution burdens on historically disadvantaged communities.
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March 11, 2025
Chemical, Carpet Cos. Seek Toss Of Ga. County's PFAS Suit
Nearly a dozen carpet and chemical manufacturers have moved to dismiss a Georgia county's lawsuit seeking to hold them responsible for an alleged public health crisis in the northwestern part of the state brought on by the sale and use of toxic chemicals in carpet manufacturing.
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March 11, 2025
NJ Residents Push To Repackage Contaminated Water Claims
Residents of National Park, New Jersey, asked a state appellate court panel for permission to revive and amend their proposed class claims over contaminated water, arguing Tuesday that the allegations are a matter for tort law, not contract law.
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March 11, 2025
Feds Push Back On Enviro Orgs., Tribes In Yellowstone Bison Case
The Interior Department is asking a federal court to reconsider orders that allowed environmental groups to intervene and add two more federal agencies as necessary parties to a challenge over the management of the bison population in Yellowstone National Park, arguing the move is an attempt to hijack the litigation.
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March 11, 2025
EPA Officially Cuts $20B In Funding For Climate Projects
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday canceled $20 billion in congressionally approved grant funding for climate change projects that it had frozen for weeks and criticized as wasteful and out of step with the Trump administration's priorities.
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March 11, 2025
6th Circ. Asks If It Should Duck Enbridge Pipeline Fight
A Sixth Circuit panel has asked if it should pause or reject altogether Enbridge Energy LP's lawsuit challenging Michigan's efforts to shutter a pipeline because of a pending state court case, requesting briefs ahead of oral arguments next week.
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March 11, 2025
Trump Taps DOJ Vet To Serve As Energy Dept.'s Top Lawyer
President Donald Trump has nominated a Winston & Strawn LLP partner, who formerly led the U.S. Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division during Trump's previous term, to serve as the U.S. Department of Energy's general counsel.
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March 11, 2025
Insurer Says AIG Unit Must Cover Water Contamination Suit
An AIG unit can't rely on its policy's pollution exclusion to bar coverage for a Texas water utility accused of providing contaminated water to residents, the utility's other insurer told a federal court, saying the court has already rejected the application of the exclusion in a related case.
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March 11, 2025
Groups Say EPA Must Regulate Phosphate Mining Waste
The Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and others have called on the D.C. Circuit to order the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate radioactive waste from phosphate mining and fertilizer production, which are currently excluded from federal regulation.
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March 11, 2025
Conservationists Sue FWS Over 'Blanket' Species Rule
Two conservation groups are suing the U.S. Department of the Interior in Montana federal court over an Endangered Species Act rule they say illegally gives the government power to indiscriminately restrict landowners' use of their property.
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March 11, 2025
Fannie Mae Says Complex Filed Ch. 11 To Duck $73M Loan
Fannie Mae told a federal court Monday that a Houston apartment complex's Chapter 11 filing was a "tactic" to avoid its obligation to repay a $73 million loan.
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March 11, 2025
Holland & Hart Taps Perkins Coie Attys For New Phoenix Office
Holland & Hart LLP announced Tuesday that it has opened its 14th office, this one in Phoenix, with two environmental partners from Perkins Coie LLP.
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March 10, 2025
EPA Says It Wants To Redo Biden-Era Chemical Risk Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday told the D.C. Circuit it wants to reconsider a Biden-era rule that strengthened regulations to assess chemicals' health and environmental risks.
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March 10, 2025
Alsup Refuses To Vacate Hearing Into OPM Mass Firings
U.S. District Judge William Alsup on Monday denied the Trump administration's request to vacate an upcoming evidentiary hearing into the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's mass firings of probationary federal employees, and required OPM director Charles Ezell to appear in person or else be deposed.
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March 10, 2025
EPA Climate Grantee Sues Citibank, Agency Over Frozen Cash
A climate-change-focused nonprofit is accusing Citibank NA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in D.C. federal court of breaching a contract to deliver billions of dollars in grant funding that's been frozen by the Trump administration.
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March 10, 2025
Tariff Shifts Creating Compliance Chaos For Energy Cos.
The unpredictability of President Donald Trump's tariff maneuvers is challenging energy companies' ability to comply with fluctuating mandates and making tariff violations more likely.
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March 10, 2025
DOT Pulls Biden Enviro Justice Highway Funding Policy
The U.S. Department of Transportation on Monday rescinded Biden-era memorandums that advised state and local agencies receiving funds from 2021's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to prioritize highway, road, bridge and other projects that promoted social justice or climate resiliency goals.
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March 10, 2025
DOJ Defends Musk's Influence Against States' Challenge
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending Elon Musk's influence in the federal government against a constitutional challenge brought by 14 states, telling D.C. federal court that the "special government employee" does not occupy an official office that would be subject to the Constitution's appointments clause.
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March 10, 2025
Whitecap Merging With Veren In $10.4B Oil & Gas Deal
Whitecap Resources Inc. said Monday it will merge with fellow Canadian oil and gas company Veren Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at CA$15 billion (US$10.4 billion) including debt.
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March 10, 2025
NC Bill Allocates $80M To Move Helene-Damaged Courthouse
A state legislative proposal that would allocate $80 million in the form of a one-time grant for the relocation of a historic North Carolina county courthouse rendered unusable by Hurricane Helene cleared its first hurdle Monday.
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March 10, 2025
Fox Rothschild Lands Enviro Ace From Connell Foley In NJ
Fox Rothschild LLP has added an environmental partner with over 25 years of experience practicing and a background as Connell Foley LLP's former environmental chair in its Morristown office, the firm announced Monday.
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March 10, 2025
Justices Reject Red-State Bid To End State Climate Torts
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a request from red states to stop climate change torts against fossil fuel companies brought by blue-state governments.
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March 07, 2025
9th Circ. Open To Reviving Monsanto Expiration Label Fight
A Ninth Circuit panel appeared open Friday to reviving a proposed class action over expiration dates on Monsanto's Roundup pesticides, but two judges were skeptical of claims against a distributor, which the distributor's counsel argued could open the floodgates of litigation.
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March 07, 2025
Feds Say California Tribes' Casino Challenge Comes Too Late
The U.S. Department of the Interior and other agencies have asked a D.C. federal judge to deny two tribes' challenge to another tribe's plan to build a casino-hotel complex on 221 acres of trust land, saying their request for a stay is improper and untimely.
Expert Analysis
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Evidence Rule May Expand Use Of Out-Of-Court Statements
A proposed amendment to Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(1)(A) would broaden the definition of nonhearsay, reflects a more pragmatic approach to regulating the admissibility of out-of-court statements by declarant-witnesses, and could help level the playing field between prosecutors and criminal defendants, say attorneys at Hangley Aronchick.
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How Courts Can Filter Nonmeritorious Claims In Mass Torts
Nonmeritorious claims have been a key obstacle to settlement in many recent high-profile mass torts, but courts may be able to use tools they already have to solve this problem, says Samir Parikh at Wake Forest University.
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Series
Racing Corvettes Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The skills I use when racing Corvettes have enhanced my legal practice in several ways, because driving, like practicing law, requires precision, awareness and a good set of brakes — complete with the wisdom to know how and when to use them, says Kat Mateo at Olshan Frome.
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Opinion
Attorneys Must Act Now To Protect Judicial Independence
Given the Trump administration's recent moves threatening the independence of the judiciary, including efforts to impeach judges who ruled against executive actions, lawyers must protect the rule of law and resist attempts to dilute the judicial branch’s authority, says attorney Bhavleen Sabharwal.
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The Math Of Cross-Examination: Less Is More, More Is Less
When conducting cross-examination at trial, attorneys should remember that “less is more, and more is less” — limiting both the scope of questioning and the length of each query in order to control the witness’s testimony and keep the factfinders’ attention, says Thomas Innes at the Defender Association of Philadelphia.
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Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises
“No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.
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Fund Names Rule FAQs Leave Some Interpretative Uncertainty
Although recently released FAQs clarify many specific points of the 2023 expansion to the Investment Company Act's fund names rule, important questions remain about how U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission staff will interpret other key terms when the end-of-year compliance date arrives, say attorneys at Dechert.
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How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work
Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.
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Tools For Witness Control That Go Beyond Leading Questions
Though leading questions can be efficient and effective for constraining a witness’s testimony, this strategy isn’t appropriate for every trial and pretrial scenario, so techniques like headlining and looping can be deployed during direct examination, depositions and even witness interviews, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.
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Opinion
US Steel-Nippon Merger Should Not Have Been Blocked
The Biden administration's block of the U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel merger on national security grounds was unconstitutional overreach and needs to be overturned, with the harms remedied in federal court, says attorney Chuck Meyer.
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10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting
This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.
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Navigating The Trump Enviro Rollback And Its Consequences
The Trump administration's rapid push for environmental deregulation will lead to both opportunities and challenges, requiring companies to adopt strategic approaches to a complex, unpredictable legal environment in which federal rollbacks are countered by increased enforcement by states, and risks of citizen litigation may be heightened, say attorneys at Beveridge & Diamond.
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Series
Competitive Weightlifting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
The parallels between the core principles required for competitive weightlifting and practicing law have helped me to excel in both endeavors, with each holding important lessons about discipline, dedication, drive and failure, says Damien Bielli at VF Law.
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8 Ways Cos. Can Prep For Termination Of Their Enviro Grants
The federal government appears to be reviewing energy- and infrastructure-related grants and potentially terminating grants inconsistent with the Trump administration's stated policy goals, and attorneys at DLA Piper provide eight steps that recipients of grants should consider taking in the interim.
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Opinion
Undoing An American Ideal Of Fairness
President Donald Trump’s orders attacking birthright citizenship, civil rights education, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs threaten hard-won constitutional civil rights protections and decades of efforts to undo bias in the law — undermining what Chief Justice Earl Warren called "our American ideal of fairness," says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.