A significant CERCLA Opinion and Order was issued on March 18, 2015 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin in Northern States Power Company v. The City of Ashland, Wisconsin, et al. Northern States is cleaning up a CERCLA site located adjacent to Lake Superior in…
Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog
Reminder: California Contractors Are Required To Register With DIR Before Bidding On Public Works Projects
The California Contractors State License Board (CSLB) recently issued a press release reminding California contractors that, beginning March 1, 2015, all contractors are required to register with the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) in order to bid on public works projects and, on April 1, 2015, all contractors will be…
State of Wyoming Challenges DOI’s Federal Hydraulic Fracturing Rules
Last week, the State of Wyoming filed a Petition for Review of Final Agency Action in the Wyoming Federal District Court challenging the new federal hydraulic fracturing rules, 43 C.F.R. Part 3160. The case is State of Wyoming v. United States Department of the Interior, et al., No. 15cv43-S. Wyoming…
Petitions for Certiorari Filed With Supreme Court in Two Environmental Cases
Petitions for certiorari have been filed with the Supreme Court of the United States regarding two recent rulings of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In both Aransas Project v. Shaw and In re: Deepwater Horizon, petitions for en banc review were denied, but a significant number…
Seattle’s Minimum Wage Ordinance Effective April 1
Seattle’s new minimum wage legislation passed by the Seattle City Council and signed into law by Mayor Murray on June 3, 2014 provides for an increase in the minimum wage in the City of Seattle to $15/hr., phased in over time, beginning April 1, 2015. The minimum wage ordinance has…
Franchise Tax Board California Competes Tax Credit Review Procedures
The Franchise Tax Board (“FTB”) will begin reviewing California Competes Tax Credit Agreements of all recipient of the credit (except for small businesses) beginning this summer. If FTB determines that credit recipients have failed to achieve the employment and investment milestones set forth in their credit agreements, FTB may recommend…
NV Reminds Contractors to Include License Number on All Advertisements
The Nevada State Contractors Board (NSCB) recently issued an Industry Bulletin reminding all licensed Nevada contractors of their responsibility to include specific information when advertising services. Subdivision (3) of Section 624.720 of the Nevada Revised Statutes requires that “[a]ll advertising by a licensed contractor must include the name of the…
USGS’s Increase of Texas’s Earthquake Risk Level: Commercial Real Estate and Insurance Implications
Today, Pillsbury attorneys James Lloyd, Vince Morgan, Adam Weaver and Tamara Bruno published their client alert titled USGS’s Increase of Texas’s Earthquake Risk Level: Commercial Real Estate and Insurance Implications. The Alert discusses the increase in seismic activity in the Fort Worth Basin and the likelihood that this increase will…
New Court of Appeals “Arranger Liability” Superfund Ruling
The U.S. Court of Appeals are encountering and deciding CERCLA (or Superfund) “Arranger Liability” cases in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in the case of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. United States, 556 U. S. 559 (2009). Earlier this year, the Fifth Circuit held,…
Removal of Arbitrator for Impartiality Doubts Under English Arb Act
Today, Pillsbury attorney Ray Sweigart published his client alert titled Removal of Arbitrator for Impartiality Doubts under English Arb Act. The Alert discusses the English Court’s removal of an arbitrator under section 24 of the Arbitration Act 1996 in Sierra Fishing Company and others v Hasan Said Farran and others…