Environmental Law

Crowell Snags 5-Lawyer Patton Enviro Team, Opens New Office in Alaska

A five-lawyer team of environmental lawyers including the Washington, D.C., practice co-chair has been lured from Patton Boggs to Crowell & Moring. They will be working with two former Patton colleagues and two other environmental practitioners with significant government experience that Crowell also has just hired. John Martin says he…

Aug 19, 2009 9:14 PM CDT

Where the Work Is

Lawyers recommend these practice areas in recessionary times

Aug 2, 2009 3:39 AM CDT

Law Prof Says 08-09 ‘Worst Term Ever’ for Environmental Proponents

Environmental groups may not have lost all five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court last term if Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had remained on the court. O’Connor grew up on a ranch and often voted for environmental interests, the New York Times reports. Her replacement, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.,…

Jul 6, 2009 6:05 PM CDT

Charges Dismissed Against W.R. Grace GC; EPA Declares First-Ever Public Health Emergency

Federal prosecutors moved early this week to dismiss charges against O. Mario Favorito, the legal counsel for W.R. Grace. Favorito was the final defendant in a the Libby, Mont., asbestos case, the Associated Press reports. His co-workers were acquitted last month. Along with his co-defendants, Favorito was accused in criminal…

Jun 18, 2009 2:31 PM CDT

Dole Gets Legal Fees as Calif. Judge Details Attorneys’ Fraud on Court

Finding that United States and Nicaraguan counsel for plaintiff banana workers participated in a fraud on a California court, Judge Victoria Chaney today ordered that all defendants be reimbursed for their legal costs. The as-yet-undetermined fees award to Dole Food Company, Inc. and Dow Chemical Co., among other defendants, comes…

Jun 18, 2009 12:21 AM CDT

Is Toilet Planter Trash? Legal Showdown Looms in Clash Over City Cleanup Plan

What municipal officials in Lakemoor, Ill., consider trash is personal art as far as Tina Asmus is concerned. And she’s hired a lawyer to make a federal case out of the issue. Specifically, the potential constitutional clash concerns the two toilet planters she has placed outside her home. With a…

Jun 16, 2009 12:04 AM CDT

Bose McKinney Agrees to Pay Hefty Legal Bill in ‘Chameleon’ Sanctions Case

A well-known Indiana-based law firm has agreed to pay part of a litigation opponent’s estimated seven-figure legal tab after a June 5 order by a federal judge sanctioning Bose McKinney & Evans and its former client in an environmental contamination case for failing to disclose material in discovery. Under the…

Jun 15, 2009 10:23 PM CDT

Bose McKinney & Evans Sanctioned for Acts of ‘Chameleon’ Lawyers

Updated: A federal judge has sanctioned Bose McKinney & Evans, saying the Indianapolis law firm “skated the edge of its responsibility” by behaving as a chameleon and becoming indistinguishable from a client that withheld information in discovery. U.S. District Judge Larry McKinney ordered Bose McKinney and the client, Red Spot…

Jun 11, 2009 5:31 PM CDT

‘Greenwashing’ Disputes Become Hot Area of False Advertising Law

There’s a hot new area of false advertising law: “greenwashing” lawsuits that claim companies are making false claims about the environmental benefits of their products. Greenwashing lawsuits are already on the increase, and there could be “an explosion in these kinds of cases,” lawyer Eric Lane of the Green Patent…

Jun 10, 2009 1:26 PM CDT

Pioneering Environmental Justice Lawyer Dies in Uganda Car Crash

San Francisco environmental justice lawyer Luke Cole has died in a car crash while vacationing with his wife in Uganda. Cole was 46, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. His wife, Nancy Shelby, was injured in the accident and flown to Amsterdam for an eye operation. Cole pioneered the field of…

Jun 9, 2009 11:53 AM CDT

Jury Acquits W.R. Grace and Former Execs in Landmark Criminal Asbestos Case

In the latest blow to federal prosecutors trying a high-profile criminal case, a jury in Missoula, Mont., has acquitted chemical products company W.R. Grace & Co. and three former executives on all charges in a landmark criminal environmental case. All had been accused of knowingly contaminating a small Missouri mining…

May 8, 2009 9:31 PM CDT

High Court Holds Chemical Supplier Not Liable for Pollution Cleanup

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a supplier that delivered pesticides to a company that polluted an industrial site in California is not liable for cleanup costs. The court ruled that Shell Oil Co. was not liable under the Superfund law for delivering the chemicals, the Associated Press reports.…

May 4, 2009 3:31 PM CDT

After Blasting Prosecutors, Judge Allows Asbestos Trial to Proceed

A federal judge who blasted federal prosecutors for failing to turn over evidence about a star witness in a Montana asbestos case is allowing the trial to continue. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula refused to dismiss criminal charges against W.R. Grace, accused of exposing residents of a small…

Apr 30, 2009 4:48 PM CDT

Hogan & Hartson Lawyer Saves Electricity with Solar Panels, Clothesline

A Hogan & Hartson environmental lawyer has cut back on his electricity consumption with the help of a solar panel, a clothesline and a so-called smart meter. The New York Times writes about lawyer Dennis Arfmann, who works in Hartson’s Boulder, Colo., office, in a story about companies offering smart…

Apr 30, 2009 3:27 PM CDT

EPA Raids Chicago Suburb Accused of Providing Toxic Water to Residents

Criminal investigators from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency raided a suburban Chicago municipality today, presumably seeking information about the Village of Crestwood’s alleged provision of contaminated well water to the public. After raiding the village hall and Crestwood’s public works department, the investigators planned to hit the police department next,…

Apr 29, 2009 5:25 PM CDT