Personal Injury, Civil Procedure, Energy & Utilities Law

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

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

DISPUTE RESOLUTION: International Arbitration: Chevron Tribunal Declares Ecuador in Breach of Interim Awards

by King & Spalding on 4/17/2013

On February 7, 2013, an investment arbitration tribunal issued its third interim measures award in the Chevron vs. Ecuador case. The tribunal found Ecuador in breach of its previous award ordering Ecuador to take all measures...more

Judge Dismisses Some Claims, But BP Trial Goes On

by Josh Crank | Lawyers.com on 3/21/2013

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier dismissed claims today against the contractor that supplied oil giant BP with drilling fluid, but denied most other dismissal requests from defendants in the civil trial over the Deepwater...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

Court Finds Private Person Can Be Held Liable for Negligent Inspection

by Michael T. Heenan | Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 3/15/2013

A private person who inspects a workplace can be held liable for injury or death due to hazards that should have been found and addressed. That is effectively what the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia recently held...more

Jurgens And Bercaw Establish A Tension Leg Platform Is Not A Vessel

by James D. Bercaw, George Jurgens, III | King, Krebs & Jurgens, PLLC on 3/11/2013

Jack Jurgens and Jim Bercaw succeeded in obtaining a partial summary judgment from District Judge Lance M. Africk that the MATTERHORN SEASTAR, a floating tension leg platform (“TLP”) secured to the Outer Continental Shelf off...more

When "Undisputed" Evidence Is Not "Conclusive" Evidence

by S. Vance Wittie | Sedgwick LLP on 1/14/2013

The Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America v. Justiss highlights a subtle but important point regarding the way appellate courts treat undisputed facts. The case concerned claims by...more

Texas Supreme Court Applies Daubert-Type Standards to Lay Testimony

by S. Vance Wittie | Sedgwick LLP on 1/14/2013

Texas has long adhered to the “Property Owner Rule,” permitting property owners to testify as to the value of their property. Recent cases have emphasized that the testimony must relate to market value, rather than intrinsic...more

Louisiana Lands on “Judicial Hellhole Watch List” for Third Year

by Paul Colomb | Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell &... on 1/2/2013

The American Tort Reform Association released its annual Judicial Hellholes Report earlier this month and Louisiana received the dubious distinction of landing on the report’s watch list for the third consecutive year. The...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

State Common Law Carbon Dioxide Liability Claims: Premonitions of Preemption (and Dismissal)

by McCarter & English: Climate Change &... on 12/1/2012

Left open by the Supreme Court’s decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, 131 S. Ct. 2527 (2011), was the question of whether state law nuisance claims for the emission of carbon dioxide were viable in the...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

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Chevron's Appeal re $18 Billion Ecuador Contamination Case

by Matt Bingham | Lewis and Roca LLP on 10/12/2012

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Chevron's petition for certiorari from a decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Chevron had asked the federal courts for an injunction barring the enforcement of a $18...more

DISPUTE RESOLUTION: Climate Change Litigation: Ninth Circuit Rejects Plaintiffs’ Claims for Damages for Alleged Climate...

by King & Spalding on 10/8/2012

In Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp., No. 09-17490 (9th Cir. Sep. 21, 2012), a panel of the Ninth Circuit unanimously affirmed the dismissal of an action brought by plaintiffs who sought $400 million in damages...more

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Personal Injury › Civil Procedure › Energy & Utilities Law