Environmental Law

Company Claims Prosecutor Misconduct in Asbestos Prosecution

W.R. Grace and five of its former executives are claiming prosecutor misconduct in a case that alleges the chemical company poisoned the residents of a mining town through asbestos exposure. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula has scheduled a hearing today on the defense claim, the New York Times…

Apr 27, 2009 3:44 PM CDT

Lawyers, Firms Note Green Milestones on Earth Day

Although recession-weary lawyers may find it harder to go green this Earth Day when they’re focused on making green, environmental lawyer Claudia Rast says attorneys have more reason to celebrate the planet now than ever. Rast, chair of the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy and Resources, and a…

Apr 22, 2009 10:31 PM CDT

EPA Seeks to Regulate Greenhouse Emissions

Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to consider whether greenhouse gas emissions should be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Today the EPA announced its answer. The agency said in a statement it considers greenhouse gases, the pollutants that contribute to global warming, to…

Apr 17, 2009 4:28 PM CDT

EPA & Lawmakers Focus on New Environmental Issue: Bedbugs

In a summit today near the nation’s capital, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is putting a new emphasis on a growing environmental issue: A proliferation of bedbugs. The increasing plague of the tiny insects, which notoriously lurk in mattresses waiting to feed on humans as they sleep, apparently has been…

Apr 14, 2009 7:53 PM CDT

PowerPoint Presentation Sparked Jones Day-Motley Rice ‘Sandbox’ Spat

Updated: It now appears that it wasn’t merely a document but a PowerPoint presentation on legal costs allegedly purloined by an unknown person from a 2004 Sherwin-Williams board meeting that is at issue in a contentious dispute between Jones Day and Motley Rice. Motley Rice, which represents the state of…

Apr 10, 2009 12:59 AM CDT

US Sues BP Sub Over Alaska Oil Spills, Seeks Maximum Penalties

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed suit against a subsidiary of a global oil company, contending that two discharges totaling some 200,000 gallons of crude oil into Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006 violated federal clean air and water laws and seeking maximum penalties. Filed in federal…

Apr 1, 2009 9:15 PM CDT

Scalia Rejects Standing Based on Affidavit of Frequent Forest Visitor

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that environmental groups don’t have standing to challenge Forest Service comment regulations for small projects based on an affidavit of a member who frequently visits the National Forests. The 5-4 decision (PDF) will make it more difficult to challenge federal regulations governing timber sales…

Mar 3, 2009 5:05 PM CST

W.R. Grace, 5 Ex-Execs on Trial in Landmark Asbestos Prosecution

Five former executives and the company that employed them, W.R. Grace & Co., went on trial today in federal court in Missoula, Mont., in what observers say is the most significant criminal case ever pursued over corporate pollution. “There’s never been a prosecution in the United States where so many…

Feb 24, 2009 1:36 AM CST

VA to Pay $20M to Settle Case Over Stolen—and Recovered—Laptop

Seemingly taken in a routine burglary at an employee’s home, a laptop computer stolen from a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs analyst in 2006—and recovered later that year, apparently without any of its data being misused—is costing taxpayers a $20 million settlement. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., approved the…

Feb 10, 2009 9:50 PM CST

What Is a Weed? Mich. Judge Decides, Upholds $100 Lawn Ticket

In a hard-fought municipal ordinance case pitting a Michigan man, supported by local environmental groups, against his township’s governing officials, a local judge has weighed in against the flourishing so-called weeds growing in his yard. “Central to the case is what it means to ‘cultivate,’ and to a lesser degree,…

Feb 10, 2009 8:59 PM CST

Nearly 200 Dead in Australian Fires; Top Official Cites ‘Mass Murder’

As residents fled for their lives and Australian firefighters battled more than 30 blazes in Victoria in the country’s worst-ever bushfires, authorities say some of the deadly conflagrations that have burned at least 741,000 acres were intentionally set. “Police declared incinerated towns crime scenes Monday, and the prime minister spoke…

Feb 9, 2009 7:15 PM CST

Green Grow the Lawsuits

Real estate industry braces for green-inspired litigation

Feb 2, 2009 2:50 AM CST

Four Firms Adding Office Space, Lawyers in Chicago

Breaking away from reports of attorney layoffs, this week we spoke to four law firms taking advantage of the recent spate of law firm mergers and downsizing to hire pools of lateral attorneys—hopefully with big books of clients—and expand niche practices in Chicago. “There’s two seasons in Chicago: winter and…

Jan 29, 2009 10:17 PM CST

Law Prof, Nominated for Regulatory Czar, Advocated ‘Senior Death Discount’

Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein, nominated to become regulatory czar in the Obama administration, supports a cost-benefit analysis that has ruffled liberal feathers when advocated by Republicans. Sunstein is “dedicated to calculating the dollar value of every regulation,” the Los Angeles Times reports. He has advocated a “senior death discount”…

Jan 27, 2009 1:51 PM CST

Racing Unknown, a 32-Year-Old Lawyer, Speeds Into Marathon Spotlight

A few years ago, while working for a Washington, D.C., law firm, attorney Kelly Jaske began running recreationally with some colleagues. They were much faster than she was, but her competitive drive helped the Harvard Law School graduate start catching up, reports the Oregonian. In 2007, she moved to Portland,…

Jan 22, 2009 5:59 PM CST