In early July, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced the withdrawal of lands identified for solar energy development in the West from new mining claims that could impede development of solar energy sites. Public Land Order No. 7818 (PLO 7818) withdraws 303,900 acres of land within 17 Solar Energy…
At the 2013 North America Intersolar Conference in San Francisco, California Governor Jerry Brown, and many others spoke confidently about solar opportunities in California. “Just within the last two months we actually recorded over 2,000 MW of solar energy being put into the grid…,” Governor Brown reported. He also confirmed…
BREAKING NEWS AUG. 15: SF-Oakland Bay Bridge to Open As Originally Planned, Sep. 3. On July 8, the Toll Bridge Program Oversight Committee (“TBPOC”) announced that the opening of the new East Span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge has been postponed. In mid-July 2005, Governor Schwarzenegger and the State…
Between the Brazilian national soccer team’s amazing victory over Spain in the final of the Confederations Cup last month in Rio de Janeiro and the massive protests that took place outside of the stadiums throughout the tournament, the country of Brazil has been making a lot of headlines recently. Here…
The Florida Supreme Court gave insureds a Fourth of July present one day early — July 3 — by ruling that property policies providing replacement cost coverage include the cost of a contractor’s overhead and profit, even if the insured does not actually pay a contractor overhead and profit to…
UPDATE: New 2014 Goals For Recycling Old Mercury Thermostats On May 15, 2013, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (CDTSC) adopted new regulations as the final part of the Mercury Thermostat Collection Act of 2008. The new regulations apply to (a) manufacturers, as described in tit. 22, C.C.R. §…
After more than a decade in the “no” column, West Virginia can now be counted among – as its highest court reports — the majority of states that recognize that defective construction causing bodily injury or property damage is an “occurrence” under standard CGL policies. Cherrington v. Erie Ins. Property…
On June 21, 2013, the government issued an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (“FAR”) to remove the dollar limits on contracts that may be set aside for Women-Owned Small Businesses (“WOSB”) and Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Businesses (“EDWOSB”). The FAR rule conforms to a final rule issued by…
A recent California case, Ahdout v. Hekmatjah (2013) 213 Cal.App.4th 21, held that an arbitrator’s refusal to apply California’s disgorgement remedy against an unlicensed contractor was subject to judicial review even if the underlying agreement was not entirely void. Two adjacent landowners formed a limited liability company to develop condominiums…
Since we last checked in on California’s planned high speed rail system nearly a year ago, it has continued to take baby steps toward construction. Mike Rosenberg of the San Jose Mercury News notes here that on June 6 the California High Speed Rail Authority’s (CHSRA) board authorized its CEO…