Court Gives Green Light to Stephen Baldwin Suit Against Kevin Costner Over Oil Spill Cleanup Machine

In happier days, actor Kevin Costner was winning acclaim for his reported efforts, with the help of a trial attorney, to develop a vaccum-cleaner-like machine to clean up oil spills threatening to do serious environmental damage. But news that BP was putting over $50 million into the project after the…

Jun 7, 2011 8:34 PM CDT

Arizona State’s Law School Breaks Ground with Sustainability Program

Jun 1, 2011 8:00 AM CDT

3rd Circuit Says Lawyers’ Involvement in ‘Crude’ Film Wasn’t a Subject-Matter Privilege Waiver

By allowing a filmmaker access to attorney-client meetings for his Crude documentary about a megabucks environmental case in Ecuador, lawyers for the plaintiffs did not create a subject-matter waiver for all privileged communications, a federal appeals court has ruled. Reversing a lower court decision that the attorneys involved would have…

May 27, 2011 12:01 AM CDT

2nd Cir OKs Temporary Ban on Plaintiffs’ Collection Efforts re $18B Enviro Judgment Against Chevron

Corrected: A federal appeals court yesterday upheld an unusual preliminary injunction preventing the plaintiffs who won an $18 billion judgment in an Ecuador environmental case against Chevron Corp. from taking action to collect from the defendant oil company, but eased restrictions imposed by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that prevented…

May 12, 2011 10:12 PM CDT

New Climate Change Suits Take Unusual ‘Public Trust’ Approach

A series of climate change lawsuits being filed across the country rely on a novel approach—the public trust doctrine—but the litigation’s success could turn on pre-emption doctrine rather than tort law. The suit filed by a coalition group called Our Children’s Trust argues that key agencies have failed to protect…

May 5, 2011 3:57 PM CDT

Dissenting in Water Rights Case, Justice Scalia Renames the People of Wyoming

Justice Antonin Scalia was the lone dissenter when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled for Wyoming on Monday in a dispute over water rights. Scalia continued his contrary ways when he referred to Wyoming residents as “Wyomans,” the Odd Clauses Watch blog reports. Scalia inserted an asterisk next to the word…

May 4, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Army Corps Blasts Hole in Levee to Save Ill., Ky. Towns, Water Level Drops, Flooded Mo. Farmers Sue

In an emergency effort to prevent floodwater from inundating towns in Illinois and Kentucky, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers last night blasted a hole in a levee near Cairo, Ill., where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers meet. An Army Corps spokesman says the plan seems to be working, since…

May 3, 2011 9:14 PM CDT

Supreme Court Rules for Wyoming in Water Dispute Flowing from Better Irrigation

The U.S. Supreme Court has sided with Wyoming in a water dispute with Montana. The court ruled Wyoming did not violate a 1950 agreement governing water usage from the Tongue and Powder rivers, the Associated Press reports. Montana had claimed that because of better irrigation systems, Wyoming was reducing the…

May 2, 2011 3:05 PM CDT

Supreme Court Doesn’t Stop Levee Break that Would Flood Farmland, Save Town

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. refused to issue an order Sunday evening blocking U.S. officials from breaking a levee in an effort to save a small Illinois town. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the break, which will flood 130,000 acres of farmland…

May 2, 2011 11:36 AM CDT

BP Sues Three Contractors in Oil Spill, Seeks at Least $40B in Damages

BP claims in lawsuits filed yesterday that three contractors are responsible for the costs of the Gulf oil spill that has cost the company $40 billion in estimated expenses. The defendants are Halliburton Co., the company that designed the failed cement seal; Transocean Ltd., the oil rig owner; and Cameron…

Apr 21, 2011 11:27 AM CDT

Chevron Celebrates Swift Dismissal of Patton Boggs Declaratory Suit re Alleged ‘Smear Campaign’

Saying that a claim of tortious interference with client relations was too speculative and that it would be inappropriate for one federal district court to tell other federal district courts how to rule on attorney ethics issues, a judge has dismissed a declaratory judgment action brought by a well-known law…

Apr 19, 2011 8:16 PM CDT

Will GE Be Liable in Design of Japanese Nuclear Plants? Law Prof Questions Traditional Wisdom

The traditional wisdom is that General Electric won’t face liability for its design of the containment systems used at the 1970s-era nuclear reactors damaged in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. GE may be protected by Japanese law that limits liability to the plant operator, which is obligated to carry…

Apr 4, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Feds Ponder Possible Manslaughter and Perjury Charges in Gulf Oil Spill Case, Sources Tell AP

Department of Justice officials investigating the massive oil spill nearly a year ago in the Gulf of Mexico are considering possible perjury and manslaughter charges. However, unidentified sources also caution that the probe is not complete and that criminal charges, while possible, are far from certain, reports the Associated Press.…

Mar 29, 2011 9:30 PM CDT

17 Howrey Lawyers Join Baker Hostetler, Including Global Litigation Co-Chair Abrams

Early rumors suggested that Howrey’s co-chair of global litigation, Robert Abrams, would be joining the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, Howrey’s co-counsel for 4,000 dairy farmers in a huge antitrust suit that could bring in a substantial contingency fee. Those rumors, detailed in an American Lawyer article, turned…

Mar 29, 2011 2:21 PM CDT

Anti-Trans-Fat Crusading Lawyer Loves Plastic, Sues Over Bag Bans; Has He Gone to ‘Dark Side’?

San Francisco lawyer Stephen Joseph is a staunch defender of plastic grocery bags. He has sued Manhattan Beach over its plastic bag ban, claiming the Southern California town didn’t follow state law mandates for environmental impact statements, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. He has threatened lawsuits against a…

Mar 28, 2011 1:07 PM CDT