The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) derives its enforcement power and ability to assess penalties from La. R.S. §§ 30:2025, 30:2050.2, and 30:2050.3. The typical chronology for the administrative enforcement process is that LDEQ will first issue a notice of potential penalty (NOPP), compliance order (CO), or consolidated compliance order & notice of potential
Kean Miller
The Louisiana Environmental Whistleblower Statute: Independent Contractors Are Not Covered
By Kean Miller on
The Louisiana Environmental Whistleblower Statute, La. R.S. 30:2027, protects employees who, in good faith, disclose, or threaten to disclose, acts they reasonably believe to be in violation of an environmental law, rule, or regulation. It also protects employees who testify or provide information to a public body about such acts. An employer may not retaliate…
Sandys v. Pincus: Expansion of the Rales Test and Lowering of Threshold for Lack of Independence in the Demand Futility Context
By Kean Miller on
In Sandys v. Pincus, the Delaware Supreme Court reversed a “thoughtful forty-two page opinion” by Chancellor Bouchard that dismissed a derivative action based upon the stockholder’s failure to make pre-suit demand.[1] The court’s opinion can be found here. The underlying Court of Chancery opinion can be found here.
Expansion of the Rales …
Impact of Delek Refining Decision on EPA’s RMP Penalty Policy
By Kean Miller on
At the very end of 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated two Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) citations for alleged violations of Process Safety Management (“PSM”) regulations. In that case, the Court held that OSHA was barred from issuing a citation for the failure to act on Process Hazard Analysis (“PHA”) findings/recommendations…
CMS Posts Revisions to Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol
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Posted in Health Law
By the Kean Miller Health Law Team
On March 27, 2017, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) posted revisions to the Voluntary Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol (SRDP), which provides a process for the disclosure of potential or actual violations of the federal physician self-referral law (commonly known as the Stark Law). In an attempt…
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Affirms Application of Louisiana’s Subsequent Purchaser Doctrine
By Kean Miller on
On April 18, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit released a published opinion in Guilbeau v. Hess Corp.[1] The court affirmed the application of Louisiana’s subsequent purchaser doctrine to claims for environmental damages allegedly caused by activities of a former mineral lessee prior to the date that the plaintiff…
EPA Not Likely to Revise Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Nitrogen Dioxide
By Kean Miller on
EPA is required by Section 109(d) the Clean Air Act to review the adequacy of each National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”) every five years to determine if new scientific evidence justifies a change to the standard. The current primary[i] NAAQS for nitrogen dioxide (“NO2”) is 53 ppb annual mean and 100 ppb NO2 as…
Statute of Limitations Applies to Old PHA Recommendations
By Kean Miller on
At the very end of 2016, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated two Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) citations against an employer that allegedly failed to timely resolve open findings and recommendations from Process Hazard Analysis (PHA). The 2008 citation related to multiple PHAs that occurred over a decade (with the last being…
Navigating the Uncertain Horizon of Post-Closing Indemnification Claims
By Kean Miller on
Helping sellers navigate the uncertain horizon of post-closing indemnification claims is a crucial part of a deal lawyer’s job on the sell-side of any M&A transaction. According to a relatively recent study by Shareholder Representative Services (the “2013 SRS Study”), approximately 67% of private M&A transactions have “material post-closing issues.”[1] While post-closing liability exposure is…
EPA Proposes to Further Delay Effective Date of RMP to 2019
By Kean Miller on
The EPA received three petitions asking it to delay and reconsider amendments to the RMP rule. First, the “RMP Coalition” submitted a petition dated February 28, 2017. On March 13, 2017, the Chemical Safety Advocacy Group also submitted a petition, followed by a third petition from a group of eleven states. On March 13, 2017,…