Our latest Environmental Case Law Update highlights a number of significant environmental and administrative law decisions reported in the period of April-September 2106. We hope you find this information to be useful and informative. Photo: Ian Sane, Silver Creek, Taken November 3, 2012 – Creative Commons
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DC Circuit Rules That Basic Structure of CFPB is Unconstitutional
In a decision released on October 11, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued a very long opinion (110 pages) which vacates an order of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that requires PHH Corporation, a large home mortgage lender, to disgorge $109 million in a…
Weathering a Storm – Action Plan to Maximize Insurance Recovery
Recently, our colleagues Tamara Bruno, Colin Kemp, Peter Gillon, Vince Morgan and Joseph Jean published an alert titled Hurricane Matthew Requires Immediate Action to Maximize Insurance Recovery to help you weather any storm. Photo: U.S. Department of Agriculture – A MH-60 helicopter from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Aviation Training Center…
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s Administrative Injunction Freezing Work on Dakota Access Oil Pipeline Dissolved
A few weeks ago, we noted that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in a decision reported on September 9, 2016, denied a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through the lands of…
Houston Court of Appeals Affirms Jury Verdict and Trial Court Instructions in San Jacinto Waste Pits Case
In a decision released on October 6, 2016, the Court of Appeals for the First District of Texas, sitting in Houston, unanimously affirmed the jury’s verdict that International Paper Company (IP) was not liable for large civil penalties as a result of the discharge of dioxin-contaminated paper mill waste into the…
Federal Contractors and Subcontractors Take Note of DOL’s Final Rule Requiring Paid Sick Leave
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued its final rule implementing President Obama’s 2015 Executive Order 13706, “Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors,” an executive order requiring federal contractors and subcontractors to provide their employees working on covered government contracts with up to seven days of paid leave per…
In UK, Pre-Contractual Deal Documents May Be An Enforceable Contract
Recently, our colleagues Luca Denora and Zara Machado published an interesting client alert titled The Ties that Bind: Commitment Letters under English Law. The publication discusses a recent decision of the UK Commercial Court, Novus Aviation Limited v. Alubaf Arab International Bank BSC (c) [2016] EWHC 1575 (Comm), which contemplates that pre-contractual…
Cal. Court Creates New Threshold Inquiry for Supplemental CEQA Review
Recently, our colleague Norman Carlin published his client alert California Supreme Court Sets New Deferential Standard for Supplemental CEQA Review. The Alert discusses the California Supreme Court’s rejection of the “new project” test for determining whether a changed project remains similar enough to the original project for supplemental California Environmental…
ND Pipeline Decision: Court Grants TRO to Prevent Indian Nation from Interfering with Construction of Pipelines
On September 13, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota granted a Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order in the matter of Paradigm Energy Partners, LLC v. Fox, et al., prohibiting the defendants from interfering with the Paradigm’s construction of two pipelines (an oil and a natural gas…
District Court Rejects Petition for Preliminary Injunction to Stop Dakota Access Pipeline, Triggering Forceful Response by Federal Government
On September 9, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a motion for a Preliminary Injunction against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a pipeline that will run within one-half mile of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, located in North…