Civil Procedure, Energy & Utilities Law

Dispute Over Duke’s 2012 Proposed Rate Increase Continues

by Mary Kathryn (Katie) King | Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC on 5/23/2013

On April 12, 2013, the N.C. Supreme Court stepped into the ongoing dispute regarding the 7.2 percent rate increase sought by Duke Energy and approved by the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) in January 2012. Duke...more

Not on the Rink in My Backyard - Ontario Court Rejects Bid to Enforce Ecuadorian Judgment Against Chevron Corp.

by April Grosse, Jeffrey S. Leon, Sheena Owens | Bennett Jones LLP on 5/22/2013

It is well-known that for 20 years Chevron Corp. has been engaged in litigation with residents of the Lago Agrio region of Ecuador over alleged environmental and health damage arising out of oil exploration activities by...more

Conflict Minerals And Resource Extraction Challenges Proceed On Accelerated Basis

by Stephen M. Quinlivan | Leonard, Street and Deinard - Dodd-Frank and... on 5/21/2013

We previously noted that the challenge to the SEC’s conflict minerals rules was transferred from the Court of Appeals to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia....more

Jarndyce v. Jarndyce Has Nothing On Comer v. Murphy Oil: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms Dismissal

by Seth Jaffe | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 5/17/2013

Readers of this blog will recall the bizarre history of Comer v. Murphy Oil. In 2005, Plaintiffs brought tort claims against major GHG emitters, claiming that those emissions, by causing global warming, led to plaintiffs’...more

Fifth Circuit Knocks Out Climate Change Liability Lawsuit Again

by J. Wylie Donald | McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 5/16/2013

Res judicata is one of those phrases learned in law school that seemed of limited utility. How often is someone going to bring the same claim twice?...more

The U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Extraterritorial Lawsuit Against Shell Oil

by Tyler Weidlich | Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell &... on 5/13/2013

The United States Supreme Court, in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, recently restricted the scope of the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350 (“ATS”), a 224-year-old law often used to invoke jurisdiction in suing...more

Automotive Legal News - May 2013 • 2nd Quarter

by John Anderson, Sr., James M. Burns, M. Kimberly Stagg, Richard Wilhelm | Dickinson Wright on 5/9/2013

IN THE ISSUE: - The Legal Challenge to the SEC’s Conflict Minerals Reporting Regulations: In the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the United States Congress required, inter alia, the SEC to promulgate regulations requiring...more

New York Appellate Court Throws Curveball at Fracking Debate

by Luke Cantrell | Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell &... on 5/9/2013

The Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, Third Department, unanimously rejected an appeal from Norse Energy Corporation, and affirmed the Town of Dryden’s right to prevent fracking through land use and zoning...more

Federal Court Provides Guidance on Adequacy of Consultation About Environmental Assessments of Major Resource Projects

by Jeremy Barretto, Thoma Gelbman, Suzanne MacMillan | Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on 5/8/2013

On April 23, 2013, the Federal Court of Canada released its decision dismissing an application commenced by the Conseil des Innus de Ekuanitshit (the Applicant) to judicially review the Order in Council (OIC) issued on the...more

Delaware Court Dismisses Securities Fraud Action Against Power Plant Executives

by Michael S. Gordon, Dean Razavi | Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP on 5/8/2013

The US District Court for the District of Delaware dismissed a class action for securities fraud against former officers and directors of a geothermal energy company, in which the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had...more

New York Court Upholds Local Hydraulic Fracturing and Oil and Gas Development Bans

by Cassie J. Dallas | BakerHostetler on 5/8/2013

Last Friday, a four judge panel of a New York appeals court upheld two local zoning laws that prohibit activities related to oil and gas exploration and development, including hydraulic fracturing. The decisions in Norse...more

Ontario Court Dismisses “Speculative” Challenge to a Prospective Wind Turbine Project

by Jack Coop, Jennifer Fairfax, Daniel Kirby, Lindsay Rauccio, Patrick Welsh | Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on 5/7/2013

In Wiggins v. WPD Canada Corporation, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims for injunctive relief and $16.6 million in damages against a prospective (not yet approved) wind turbine project,...more

eDiscovery: The View From Singapore

by Pooja S. Nair | Foley & Lardner LLP on 5/7/2013

The Singaporean government has adopted aggressive measures to become a regional center for dispute resolution and arbitration in areas ranging from intellectual property, to oil and gas arbitration....more

Appeals Court Upholds Drilling Bans

by Thomas Puchner | Phillips Lytle - Renewable Energy on 5/3/2013

In twin decisions handed down today, the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department upheld two local zoning laws that prohibit activities related to oil and gas development (commonly referred to as “hydraulic...more

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Confirms The Dunham Rule

by Charles Sartain | Looper Reed & McGraw, P.C. on 5/3/2013

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Or, as said by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, “A rule of property long acquiesced in should not be overthrown except for compelling reasons of public policy or the imperative demands of...more

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Upholds Statewide Oil And Gas Conveyance Rules

by Jason Yearout | BakerHostetler on 5/3/2013

In October of 2012 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral argument on two key cases that potentially could reshape the laws and rules applicable to hydraulic fracturing in the state. We wrote extensively about these cases...more

Conflict Minerals Challenge To Follow Resource Extraction Case To District Court

by Stephen M. Quinlivan | Leonard, Street and Deinard - Dodd-Frank and... on 5/2/2013

As previously noted, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently dismissed a challenge to the SEC’s resource extraction rules for lack of jurisdiction. The case was left to proceed pursuant to a previously...more

Pa. Supreme Court Issues Decision in Butler Case

by Michael Connelly | Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC on 5/2/2013

On April 24, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated decision in the Butler v. Charles Powers Estate case. The Supreme Court decided to maintain the status quo in Pennsylvania by reaffirming the...more

Butler v. Charles Powers Estate: Owners of Marcellus Shale Gas May Now Rest Easily

by Joel Burcat | Saul Ewing LLP on 5/1/2013

The Dunham Rule is alive and well in Pennsylvania and thousands of titles to Marcellus shale gas will not be impacted by any change in the law. Pennsylvania’s peculiar rule of property law—that says that oil and gas are not...more

D.C. Appeals Court Says EPA May Revoke Fill Permit After It Has Been Issued

by Marc Bruner, Edgar Washburn | Perkins Coie on 5/1/2013

In addressing an important legal issue of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “veto” authority under Section 404(c) of the...more

Update on CEQA Reform: Steinberg’s Quest for the “Elusive Middle Ground”

by Shaye Diveley, Miles H. Imwalle | Morrison & Foerster LLP on 5/1/2013

The last year witnessed what once appeared to be a groundswell of support for the “modernization” of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), loosely meaning easing the burden of the process itself and minimizing...more

Appeals Court Dismisses Challenge To SEC Resource Extraction Rules

by Ethan Mark | Leonard, Street and Deinard - Dodd-Frank and... on 4/30/2013

In 2012 ,the SEC adopted final rules requiring public companies engaged in certain oil and gas activities to disclose payments made to domestic and foreign governments as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The rules were...more

Climate Change Legal Theories: The Atmospheric Public Trust Doctrine Moves Another Step Forward

by J. Wylie Donald | McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 4/30/2013

One of the shibboleths of those following climate change litigation is the idea that new legal theories will be surfaced, fired in the furnace of litigation and then forged as the vehicle for addressing climate change in the...more

Appeals Court Reinstates EPA “Veto” Over Corps’ Mining-Related Permit - Mingo Logan decision creates uncertainty in Clean Water...

by Denise Pettijohn, Christopher "Kip" B. Power, Robert Stonestreet | Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on 4/29/2013

In a surprising reversal, on April 23, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a lower court order issued on March 23, 2012, in the case of Mingo Logan Coal Company v. U.S. Envtl. Prot....more

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Reaffirms Dunham Rule, Confirms that Marcellus Shale Natural Gas is not a "Mineral"

by Levi Jones | Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP on 4/29/2013

On April 24, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Butler v. Powers held that Marcellus shale “natural gas is presumptively not a mineral for purposes of private deeds.” The Court reaffirmed the “Dunham Rule,” which applies...more

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Civil Procedure › Energy & Utilities Law