On Sept. 7, 2023, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Pipeline Safety: Safety of Gas Distribution and Other Pipeline Safety Initiatives.”...more
On Aug. 24, 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced the forthcoming publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking intended to improve safety...more
On Aug. 2, 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced the grant of $64.4 million to states to improve the safety of pipelines and underground natural...more
In Lowery v. Rhapsody International, Inc., —F.4th—, 2023 WL 3857499 (June 7, 2023), the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently reversed an award of attorneys’ fees to class counsel that was more than thirty times the amount...more
On May 18, 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice of proposed rulemaking intended to improve the detection and repair of leaks from...more
In conjunction with the G7 Summit in Japan, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) introduced additional economic sanctions on May 19, 2023, with the aim of further limiting the...more
On March 13, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the district court’s order of class certification in Van v. LLR, Inc. under Rule 23(f)....more
On January 20, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision to certify a class under Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA”), which prohibits public entities...more
On January 5, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision to strike class allegations after only limited discovery....more
On Nov. 30, 2022, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) published an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) aimed at enhancing cyber risk management in the pipeline and rail sectors. Indeed, the ANPRM...more
On Jan. 4, 2023, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals made two important findings in a class-action case seeking to compel the creation of a girls-only football team for high-school girls....more
In a unanimous decision, the Ohio Supreme Court found that appellee EMOI Services, LLC’s (“EMOI”) businessowners insurance policy does not cover losses resulting from a ransomware attack on EMOI’s computer software systems....more
On December 16, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit made two important findings in a class-action settlement case.
First, the Court vacated the district court’s settlement approval finding that the...more
While utility companies and critical infrastructure companies have focused on digital sabotage and cybersecurity over the past few years, such companies must remain cognizant about continued risks of physical sabotage....more
On November 30, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s finding that a settlement was not a coupon settlement when applying the three factors outlined in In re Online DVD-Rental...more
As of October 6, 2022, operators of gas and hazardous liquid pipelines must comply with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s (“PHMSA”) Final Rule on “Valve Installation and Minimum Rupture Detection...more
On October 7, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied a purported class representative’s attempt to intervene in a class action. The class representative had argued that his interests were not adequately...more
In a recent case addressing the novel issue of whether foreign law trumped United States law for purposes of class action tolling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit concluded that Colombian law on equitable...more
In Kelly v. RealPage, Inc., the Third Circuit held that a small subclass of consumers could proceed on their class action against RealPage based on the company’s failure to provide them with required third-party information...more
On August 15, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a class-certification order on a Rule 23(f) appeal after sua sponte holding that the named plaintiff had no standing to sue. The case is yet another...more
On Wednesday, August 3, 2022, the Eleventh Circuit confirmed the groundbreaking decision that incentive payments given to a named plaintiff in a class action are improper by denying a petition for rehearing en banc that had...more
In Drazen v. Pinto, –F.4th–, 2022 WL 2963470 (July 27, 2022), the Eleventh Circuit vacated a district court’s decision to certify a class under Rule 23 and approve the class settlement because the class included members who...more
On July 8, 2022, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a notice of regulatory enforcement discretion for particular gathering lines. Gathering lines are those pipelines that transport gas...more
Appellee Thomas Fox and others failed to pay their delinquent property taxes in certain Michigan counties and had their property foreclosed on and sold. However, the counties kept all of the sale proceeds and not just the...more
The 7th Circuit recently vacated a 25% attorneys’ fee award in In re Stericycle Securities Litigation, No. 20-2055, 2022 WL 1564997, at *1–14 (7th Cir. May 18, 2022). The Court’s reasoning focused on the previous litigation...more