On May 25, 2023, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of landowners seeking to build a modest home on “wetlands” in Sackett v. EPA. This ruling represents not only a clarification of a major law relevant to companies seeking to develop land near water bodies, but also a significant limitation on the EPA’s
On March 13, 2018, the US Court of Federal Claims sided with landowners seeking compensation from the US Army Corps of Engineers for increased flooding caused by the Corps’ management of the Missouri River. In Ideker Farms, Inc., et al. v. The United States, the court found that 44 initial representative plaintiffs had a
The March 22, 2012 Report and Recommendation from a federal magistrate judge in the case of Star Direct Telecom, Inc. v. Global Crossing Bandwidth, Inc., 2012 WL 1067664 (W.D.N.Y.) is a good reminder to everyone about taking evidence preservation obligations seriously. In the case, the magistrate judge recommended that the plaintiff’s motion for sanctions on
Several cases over the last few years have dealt with whether litigation hold letters are discoverable. As a review, a litigation hold is a written communication (email, memo, letter) usually from a party’s lawyer or legal department to the party’s employees explaining the existence of a claim or lawsuit and requesting that certain information be
In the e-discovery world, you need to be ready to make your case for using your proposed keyword search terms.
In the case of Custom Hardware Engineering & Consulting, Inc. v. Dowell, 2012 WL 10496, a dispute between the parties as to what search terms were to be used by the defendants to search for
Even for a “small company,” the failure to comply with discovery obligations to preserve electronically stored information (ESI) can be dangerous. The case of Perez v. Vezer Industrial Professionals, Inc. 2011 WL 5975854 (E.D. Cal. 2011) involved a truck accident, but the lawsuit quickly reached the point where the plaintiff sought a default judgment against
On October 14, 2009, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued General Permit No. LAG260000 for discharges within the territorial seas of Louisiana from oil and gas exploration, development, and production facilities.
In a lawsuit filed in state district court in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Environmental Action Network challenged this General Permit. In
The July 20, 2010 Louisiana Register contained a notice from the Office of Conservation, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources that purported to promulgate rules amending Statewide Order 29-B to add a new Chapter 8 on procedures for evaluation and remediation of groundwater at E&P sites. Conservation’s Web site on July 20, 2010 contained a “final”
In the January 20, 2010 Louisiana Register, the Office of Conservation, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources issued a Notice of Intent to amend Statewide Order 29-B to incorporate new rules for the evaluation and remediation of groundwater conditions at exploration and production sites.
The proposed rules can be found at this link. As part
Environmental litigators face unique challenges in dealing with the expert phase of a lawsuit. For example, a lawsuit involving alleged environmental contamination of soil, groundwater, or surface waters may require the use of experts such as environmental/civil engineers, hydrogeologists, hydrologists, geologists, soil scientists, agronomists, analytical chemists, toxicologists, environmental chemists, risk assessment experts, wetlands scientists, health