Most people are familiar with geothermal energy from pictures of Iceland and from the heat pumps in their home. But, geothermal energy can be located in much broader geographic areas, and can be useful for large-scale energy…
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/ Energy & Utilities, Environmental Law, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
Let’s assume you signed a new oil and gas lease with ABC Production in March 2018 (the “2018 Lease”). Given the size of your farm (i.e. 1000 acres), you successfully negotiated a “retained acreage” clause in the 2018 Lease. The…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Real Estate - Commercial, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
This article is part of the “Defending the Algorithm™” series and was written by Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Insurance, Business and IP Trial Lawyer Christopher M. Jacobs, Esq. and was authored with research assistance from…
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/ Communications & Media Law, Products Liability, Science, Computers, & Technology
In Part 1 of this series, we broadly examined the background to the stormwater fees that many Pennsylvania property owners are being assessed. We also briefly evaluated the Borough of West Chester case, currently on appeal at…
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/ Environmental Law, Taxation, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
As 2025 draws to a close, the trade secret landscape has shifted in ways that matter profoundly for companies developing and deploying artificial intelligence. Throughout this Defending the Algorithm™ series, we have argued that…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
As data centers, cryptocurrency mining operations, and other energy-intensive technologies proliferate, colocating that infrastructure with natural gas wells can be beneficial to the gas drillers and to the power consumers. The…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities
The federal court discovery battle in Estate of Lokken v. UnitedHealth Group (UHC) (see complaint here) at Docket # 2023-cv-03514 (D. Minn. 2025) reveals what every insurer using AI and LLM’s will face: aggressive discovery…
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/ Electronic Discovery, Insurance, Science, Computers, & Technology
Ben Franklin once said that “nothing is certain except death and taxes”. Fortunately for Mr. Franklin, he passed away before governments learned about “fees”. The many Pennsylvania property owners who are now being assessed with…
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/ Environmental Law, Taxation, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
Let’s assume you own a 115 acre farm in Greene County. The farm has been in the family since the early 1900’s. You own both the oil and gas and the coal underlying the farm. In 1915, your great-grandfather entered into a coal…
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/ Civil Remedies, Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
There used to be a familiar sight when traveling west on U.S. Route 22 and coming down Chestnut Ridge toward Pittsburgh — the massive cooling towers and chimneys of the Homer City Generating Station. This coal-fired plant, with…
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/ Commercial Law & Contracts, Energy & Utilities, Science, Computers, & Technology
In August 2025, a pair of California parents filed suit in California state court against OpenAI (Raine v. OpenAI, Inc.) after the death of their teenage son, alleging that the company’s generative-language model played a direct…
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/ Communications & Media Law, Products Liability, Science, Computers, & Technology
In this Defending the Algorithm™ blog and audio series, we've examined the important Bartz v. Anthropic copyright settlement, explored the expanding legal battleground over AI training data beyond copyright claims, and…
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/ Law Practice Products & Services, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania, on Friday, October 17, 2025, affirmed a finding of bad faith against Erie Insurance Exchange, but vacated the trial court’s award of attorney’s fees and interest. In Dina Devincenzo‑Gambone &…
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/ Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Civil Remedies, Insurance
How Businesses Can Protect Innovation in the Age of Machine Intelligence. In our continuing Defending the Algorithm™ series examining AI litigation and emerging risks, we now turn to trade secret protection. Following the…
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/ Business Torts, Intellectual Property, Science, Computers, & Technology
On September 5, 2025, Pennsylvania Senate Bill 991, the “Data Center Siting and Permitting Act” began its legislative journey with the aim of reducing red tape and attracting substantial data center investment to the…
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/ Energy & Utilities, Environmental Law, Zoning, Planning & Land Use
