Close

Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real Estate Law Blog

Updated:

DHS Proposes Cybersecurity Procurement Regulation to Safeguard CUI

In Federal Contractors Beware DHS Proposes Robust Cybersecurity Procurement Regulation to Safeguard Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), my colleagues and I discuss the proposed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) procurement regulation to safeguard CUI and its internal inconsistencies/ambiguities.

Updated:

In a First-Ever Move, EPA Asks Industry and Public What Agency Regulations to Repeal, Replace or Modify

Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency published a notice in the Federal Register seeking public comments on any “regulations that may be appropriate for repeal, replacement, or modification.” This notice invites an unprecedented level of review over EPA’s entire existing body of regulations. The notice aims to implement the President’s February…

Updated:

Contingencies in Construction Budgets: Lenders’ and Borrowers’ Perspectives

As any builder will tell you, it is impossible to know with certainty the exact amount a project is going to cost. Variables affecting the cost run the gamut from labor and material costs to delays for unforeseen conditions, weather or other causes. The longer a project is expected to…

Updated:

AFRC Has Standing To Challenge U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2012 Designation Of 9.5M Acres Of Federal Forest Lands As Protected Critical Habitat

On April 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed the lower court and held, in a unanimous opinion, that the American Forest Resource Council has standing to challenge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2012 designation of 9.5 million acres of federal forest lands as…

Updated:

DC Circuit Discusses EPA’s De Minimis Authority To Create Reporting Exemptions

On April 11, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s December 18, 2008 CERCLA/EPCRA Administrative Reporting Exemption for Air Releases of Hazardous Substances from Animal Waste at Farms rule (Rule) that created hazardous substance reporting exemptions for all farms, except large animal raising operations…

Updated:

California SB 71 Could Give New Meaning—and New Construction Costs—to the Word “Sunroof”

For builders working in California—already one of the most expensive states for new construction—a new bill winding its way through the legislature could add yet more costs. For this reason, Senate Bill 71 (SB 71) should be on the radar of developers and construction companies that do business in California.…

Updated:

District Court Invokes Burford Abstention and Primary Jurisdiction Doctrines to Dismiss RCRA Citizen Suit

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma has dismissed the Sierra Club’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) citizen suit, filed against several oil and gas producers seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. The District Court invoked the Burford abstention doctrine (Burford v. Sun Oil Co.) and primary jurisdiction doctrine to…

Updated:

Local Officials Entitled to Qualified Immunity For “No Contact” Email

On April 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decided the case of Mirabella v. Villard, et al., a civil rights case brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging, inter alia, violations of their First Amendment rights by local officials. Although the Court of Appeals concluded that the Mirabellas adequately alleged…

Updated:

Fourth Circuit: PPL Montana, LLC v. Montana “Navigability” Principle Applies To NC

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has decided the case of North Carolina v. Alcoa Power Generating, Inc. The Court of Appeals affirmed, in a 2 to 1 ruling, the decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina that a relevant segment of North…

Updated:

Prime Minister May’s Great Repeal Bill

In Brexit: The UK’s Great Reform Bill, Pillsbury attorney Tim Wright discusses Prime Minister May’s “notice to quit” under Article 50 and start  of what he aptly describes as the equivalent of a “difficult and protracted divorce proceedings.” The White Paper published sets out Prime Minister May’s plans for a great repeal bill, which at one strike will remove…