A Mayer Brown Legal Update published late last week discussed the January 11, 2012, Supreme Court Opinion in Pacific Operators Offshore, LLP v. Valladolid, which held that “an injury is covered by the OCSLA [Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331 – 1356] when there is a ‘substantial nexus’ between the injury and extractive [...]
Archive for the ‘Litigation’ Category
6 Dec
EPA Initiates Proposed Rulemaking Process to Obtain Fracking Fluid Data
On November 23, 2011 the EPA issued a letter partially granting a petition from the environmental group Earthjustice requesting disclosure and evaluation of the fluids and chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Earthjustice had submitted the petition in August 2011 on behalf of more than 100 public health, environmental, [...]
11 Oct
Endangered Species Act “Mega-Lawsuit” Seeks EPA Review of 300+ Pesticides
Southwest Farm Press reports that the Plaintiffs and Defendants in Center for Biological Diversity et al v. Environmental Protection Agency et al have filed a joint status report requesting a 30-day continuation of the stay of the litigation and the postponement of the October 14 status conference until November 18. The lawsuit kicked off in [...]
1 Sep
Seeking Medical Monitoring After Environmental Contamination
A Legal Update from Mayer Brown covered the recent Third Circuit opinion in Gates v. Rohm & Haas Co. The plaintiffs in the case, which started as a complaint filed against Rohm and Haas (a manufacturing company that is now a subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company) in a Pennsylvania district court five years ago, [...]
25 Aug
D&O Insurance May Cover Subpoena “Claims” in Fracking Investigation
Dickstein Shapiro gives companies under investigation a light at the end of the tunnel with their recently published legal alert, which suggests that directors & officers that are the subjects of subpoenas may indeed be able to recoup costs related to the subpoenas from their D&O insurance companies. The alert specifically addresses a situation in [...]
17 Feb
Chevron Company Found Guilty in Historic Environmental Lawsuit
On Tuesday, Chevron Corporation was ordered by Ecuadorian courts to pay $9 billion in damages for massive environmental contamination of the Amazon rainforest. The lawsuit was filed in 2003 by Ecuadorian citizens, many of whom are representatives of multiple indigenous groups from northeastern Ecuador. The litigation was originally brought against Texaco Petroleum Company in a [...]
14 Dec
And In Other Oil Spill Claims News…
The Hill’s E2-Wire blog reported yesterday on updated payment options available to Deepwater Horizon claimants. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) is a facility that manages claims for costs and damages incurred as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP contributes funds to an account that are then distributed by an independent claims [...]
3 Dec
Insuring Against Climate Change
A recent Alert from Perkins Coie underscores the risks corporations face from climate change fallout, and how insurance policies may – and may not – be able to protect you. Disasters associated with climate change have the potential to hurt you in more than one way. After the debris has been cleared from increasingly intense [...]
1 Dec
Spygate: Greenpeace Sues Dow Chemical et al. for Espionage
A lawsuit filed Monday in federal district court by Greenpeace accuses chemical big-wigs Dow and Sasol North America of engaging in a “pattern and practice of clandestine and unlawful activities” including “misappropriation and theft of confidential information and trade secrets, unlawful surveillance, misuse of law enforcement personnel, and, in all likelihood, unlawful breaking and entering [...]
