Environmental Law, Energy & Utilities Law, Personal Injury

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

Courts To Rule On Wind Issues

by Bruce Goodman | Varnum LLP on 5/13/2013

Seventeen neighbors of the Consumers Energy Lake Wind Energy Park have filed a complaint in Mason County claiming the wind farm has negatively impacted property values and caused sleep disruption, headaches, ringing ears,...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

Texas Court Allows Defamation Claim Against Landowner to Proceed

by Cassie J. Dallas | BakerHostetler on 4/26/2013

On Monday, Texas’s Second District Court of Appeals partially affirmed a District Court order allowing Range Resources Corporation’s (“Range”) defamation and business disparagement claims against a landowner to...more

BP Exec Defends Safety Record in Combative Trial Testimony

by Josh Crank | Lawyers.com on 4/12/2013

An executive with oil giant BP steadfastly defended the company’s commitment to safety while testifying today in the civil trial over the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill. BP’s Neil Shaw delivered testimony that grew...more

Businesses Most Affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

by Perry Draper Law on 3/20/2013

So far, more than $9.5 billion has been paid out to compensate Gulf Coast residents and businesses for the losses suffered from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. With the claims process reopened and a new settlement...more

Judge Shoots Down BP’s Request to Drop Gross Negligence Charge

by Josh Crank | Lawyers.com on 3/19/2013

As soon as plaintiffs’ attorneys in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill trial called their last witness, an attorney for BP asked U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier to dismiss charges that the oil giant committed “gross...more

Native Village Of Kivalina Files Its Petition For Certiorari - A Five-Year Climate Change Litigation Marathon That Has Yet To...

by J. Wylie Donald | McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 3/18/2013

One day short of five years since the case was originally filed, on February 25, 2013 the plaintiffs in Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp. attempt once more to get out of the starting blocks, this time with a...more

DEP Hazmat Specialist Pleads Guilty To Spill Records Destruction – Implications For Those Affected By Spills

by Kenneth Gray, Dixon P. Pike | Pierce Atwood LLP on 3/8/2013

Former HazMat Specialist Jon P. Andrews, assigned to the Augusta Region of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, has pleaded guilty to destroying three years of spill records on his final day on the job. The...more

Indirect Costs of Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill May Be Reimbursed

by Perry Draper Law on 3/7/2013

Lost business, lost profits — these are easily the most recognizable losses eligible for compensation from the BP settlement funds. However, under a new claims administrator and a new claims process, there are additional...more

Would You Be Annoyed If Your Neighbor Installs A Wind Turbine?

by Keith Paul Bishop | Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis... on 2/15/2013

In 2009, the Nevada legislature enacted a statute intended to remove private barriers to landowners’ harnessing of wind energy...more

Top 6 At 12: Highlights Of The Top Climate Change Stories In The Second Half Of 2012

by J. Wylie Donald | McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 1/2/2013

2012 has drawn to a close. We chronicle here six of the most significant stories on the climate change front in the last six months. For those looking for hope that government is taking action to rein in greenhouse gas...more

Western Pa.'s Take On Carbon Dioxide Liability Claims

by J. Wylie Donald | McCarter & English, LLP on 12/20/2012

Originally published in Law360 on December 17, 2012. Left open by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, 131 S. Ct. 2527 (2011), was the question of whether state law nuisance...more

No En Banc Appeal in Kivalina; So What's Next for Climate Change LItigation?

by J. Wylie Donald | McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 12/10/2012

When we discuss climate change litigation with colleagues or acquaintances unfamiliar with it, they are always a little incredulous. “The plaintiffs allege what? How could you prove that? There's no way they can win.” ...more

Toxic Tort and Environmental Law Update - October 2012: Ninth Circuit Upholds Dismissal of a Public Nuisance Lawsuit

by Sedgwick LLP on 11/8/2012

On September 21, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by the Alaskan village of Kivalina against 23 energy companies. Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., 2012 WL...more

U.S. District Court Holds that Federal Clean Air Act Preempts Pennsylvania State Law Common Law Tort Claims

by Cozen O'Connor on 11/6/2012

On October 12, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued an opinion and order in Kristie Bell v. Cheswick Generating Station, GenOn Power Midwest, L.P., No. 2:12-cv-929, holding that state...more

The Third Climate Change Liability Suit Fights to Stay Alive: Plaintiffs in Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Seek Rehearing

by McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 10/8/2012

The plaintiffs in the climate change liability suit, Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil, won’t go quietly. Last Thursday, Plaintiffs filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a petition for rehearing en banc...more

Last Federal Climate Change Case Dismissed by Ninth Circuit

by Matt Bingham | Lewis and Roca LLP on 9/28/2012

Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit dismissed the last climate change lawsuit still pending in the federal courts to the best of my knowledge. Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp. was a lawsuit by a small Alaskan village...more

Ninth Circuit Affirms District Court in Kivalina Climate-Change Case

by White & Case LLP on 9/27/2012

On Friday, September 21, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important opinion in the developing area of climate-change litigation, affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit that threatened the energy sector with...more

Ninth Circuit Displaces Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Climate Change Liability Case

by McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 9/24/2012

In litigation concerning liability for the emission of greenhouse gases, the federal common law of nuisance is displaced by the Clean Air Act. This is not news. It was established by the Supreme Court over a year ago in...more

Sands Through the Hourglass or the Next Big Tort?

by Robert Smith on 5/31/2012

This article discusses hydraulic fracturing, the technology, and the initial litigation related to the activity....more

Still No Insurance Coverage for Climate Change Nuisance Litigaiton -- At Least in Virginia

by Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 4/24/2012

Last week, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled (for the second time) that a CGL policy issued to AES Corporation did not require Steadfast Insurance to provide a defense to AES for claims brought again AES in Kivalina v. Exxon...more

U.S. Supreme Court Curtails Claims against Carbon-Dioxide Emitters -- March 27, 2012

by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP on 3/27/2012

In a case last year, the United States Supreme Court held that plaintiffs cannot maintain nuisance claims against carbon-dioxide emitters based on federal common law, curtailing claims that may be brought against power...more

Ninth Circuit Hears Oral Argument in Climate Change Case

by Dechert LLP on 12/13/2011

The Ninth Circuit recently heard oral argument in a potentially significant case raising climate change issues. See Kivalina v. Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 09-17490 (9th Cir.)(oral argument 11/28/11). We have posted on this...more

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Not Subject to Federal Common Law Nuisance Claims

by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 7/6/2011

In the battle over climate change, the Supreme Court once again set an important precedent in American Electric Power Co., Inc. v. Connecticut (“American Electric Power”). In an 8-0 decision written by Justice Ginsburg...more

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Environmental Law › Energy & Utilities Law › Personal Injury