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The EPA has finalized the first federal regulations on toxic “forever chemicals” in drinking water, potentially fueling litigation over both the chemicals and the rules, reports Clark Mindock.
The highly anticipated rules target six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, that are commonly used to make thousands of commercial and consumer products. They set deadlines for public water systems to test for the chemicals and then mitigate them when levels exceed the rules’ standards.
Legal experts say court challenges seeking to block the rules are likely to be filed by manufacturers, business groups and potentially water systems themselves. The National Association of Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said in comments last year on a draft version of the rules that the proposal overstated the benefits of imposing the limits while underestimating costs. Water utility industry groups have said that compliance could cost water systems billions of dollars.
The new rules could also make it easier for water systems that are suing or considering suing companies that produce or use PFAS near them for polluting waterways with the chemicals. Legal experts say that is because the rules create an unambiguous standard for what levels of PFAS in drinking water are acceptable, and so could make it easier for water systems to prove they have been harmed by the pollution.
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- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has agreed to pay $8 million to settle class action claims from people who said their personal information was compromised in a March 2023 data breach of some of the firm’s client data, according to a proposed settlement in San Francisco federal court.
- Two Jewish legal aid lawyers who represent indigent defendants in New York City filed a lawsuit claiming that being forced to pay dues to their union after it accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing and genocide” in Gaza violates their constitutional rights. Their lawsuit against the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys and New York City comes as Republicans in Congress are investigating the union over complaints by some members of antisemitic conduct, including passing a resolution in December calling for a ceasefire in Israel.
- California state bar prosecutors asked a judge to reject a bid by John Eastman, a former lawyer for Donald Trump, to restore his ability to practice law as the state’s ethics case against him moves forward. Eastman was recommended for disbarment last month after State Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland found his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Trump’s behalf violated attorney conduct rules. Eastman last week urged the judge to pause the impact of her order that automatically deactivated his law license, but California bar prosecutors pushed back in a filing this week.
- Three years after it rejected a similar push, the JPML said it would create an MDL in San Francisco for claims alleging baby food made by Gerber, Beech-Nut and other companies is tainted with heavy metals. The panel centralized more than 20 lawsuits brought by families who say their children have autism spectrum disorder or ADHD as a result of brain damage they suffered from eating the tainted food. The companies deny allegations their food is unsafe.
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That is how much litigation finance firm Longford committed to finance lawsuits for Quinn Emanuel’s private equity clients. The agreement will help Quinn Emanuel’s clients and their portfolio companies “pursue meritorious legal claims without diluting the valuation of their company,” Longford’s co-founder and managing director William Farrell said. Large law firms are increasingly working with litigation funders.
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The 9th Circuit had a chance on Wednesday to become the fourth federal circuit to weigh in on “snap removal,” a controversial but increasingly common defense tactic to shift cases from state to federal court. The appeals court ended up ducking any final decision on the viability of snap removals in its ruling in consolidated appeals by diabetes equipment supplier Dexcom. But that’s only because Dexcom tried to pull off an even more aggressive tactic, attempting to shift three product liability suits from San Diego Superior Court to federal court before the cases were even formally docketed in the California state court system. Alison Frankel explains why the 9th Circuit decided that “ever snappier snap removals” are a no-go.
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“Today’s law students seem much less obsessed with the rankings than law students of the past.“
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—–Above the Law editor Staci Zaretsky in describing how the legal blog’s coverage of the latest U.S. News & World Report’s law school rankings generated “hefty traffic bumps” compared with posts on other topics, but rankings traffic was down from two years ago. Law school admissions consultant Mike Spivey also said traffic was down about 50% this year when he leaked the rankings ahead of their official release. The drop-off in clicks is the latest hint that the influence of U.S. News’ law school rankings is waning following a widespread boycott by schools that began in 2022 and a series of data errors that plagued the rollout out the 2023 list, Karen Sloan reports.
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- Apple faces a deadline to respond to claims from “Fortnite” developer Epic Games accusing the iPhone maker of violating an injunction involving its App Store. Epic’s attorneys at Cravath and other firms want U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers to hold Apple in contempt and end what they call “sham” compliance. The companies have been battling in court since 2020. Apple has denied violating the terms of the injunction.
- Victor Manuel Rocha, who served as U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 2000 to 2002, is slated to plead guilty and be sentenced in federal court in Miami on charges that he spied for Cuba for decades. Rocha was charged in December with committing multiple federal crimes including acting as an illegal foreign agent and using a fraudulently obtained passport, the DOJ said in a statement.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- The EEOC has told a federal judge in an amicus brief that human resources software firm Workday must face a proposed class action alleging that it violated federal anti-bias laws by using artificial intelligence-powered software to screen out job applicants for other employers for discriminatory reasons. The brief came in a novel lawsuit filed last year by Derek Mobley, who claims he has been turned down for more than 100 jobs he applied for using Workday’s platform because he is Black, over 40, and has anxiety and depression.
- Amazon.com’s Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest cloud-service provider, owes tech company Kove $525 million for violating its patent rights covering data-storage technology, an Illinois federal jury said. The jury determined that AWS infringed three Kove patents for technology that Kove said had become “essential” to the ability of Amazon’s cloud-computing arm to “store and retrieve massive amounts of data.”
- The federal circuit affirmed a decision for Bausch Health that barred rival drugmaker Alvogen from marketing a proposed generic version of Bausch’s diarrhea treatment Xifaxan until 2029. A Delaware federal court had determined that Alvogen subsidiary Norwich Pharmaceuticals’ generic would infringe patents owned by Bausch’s Salix Pharmaceuticals and blocked the FDA from approving the generic until the last Xifaxan U.S. patent expires.
- A U.S. judge declined a bid to end Tehum Care Services’ “Texas two step” bankruptcy, but he said the prison healthcare company would need to come up with a new bankruptcy deal if it wants its restructuring to move forward. Lopez said he was not making a “policy statement” about Texas two-steps but that the critics of Tehum’s deal hadn’t presented strong evidence about how Tehum’s bankruptcy could impact their clients.
- Alaska sued the EPA seeking to overturn an agency decision that it said effectively blocked development of one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits. The complaint challenges the EPA’s 2023 final determination that prohibited the discharge of mining waste from the so-called Pebble deposit into the state’s Bristol Bay. It comes about a month after a similar lawsuit was filed by the site’s developer, Northern Dynasty Minerals.
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- Womble Bond Dickinson added business litigation partner Janna Satz Nugent in Atlanta. She most recently was general counsel at Sixty West. (Womble)
- Bressler, Amery & Ross brought on four attorneys in Fort Lauderdale including partner Roxanne Rehm, who focuses on securities and investments. Rehm most recently was at Citi. (Bressler)
- Trial firm Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann hired Julia Simon as a partner in Dallas. She most recently was chief legal officer for Mary Kay. (Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann)
- Buchalter brought on two Denver-based partners, Rajesh “Raj” Kukreja and Kara Chrobak, to its family law practice. They arrive from Sherman & Howard. (Buchalter)
- Bradley Arant added tax partners Jeff Luechtefeld, John Nail and Sean Gannon in Atlanta. They previously were at Chamberlain Hrdlicka. (Bradley)
- Moses Singer added Evan Cowit in New York as partner and chair of its private clients group. He previously was at Kudman Trachten Aloe Posner. (Moses Singer)
- Shutts & Bowen brought on partner Eduardo J. De la Peña Bernal to its international litigation and arbitration practice in Miami. He previously was at Reed Smith. (Shutts & Bown)
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Correction: Thursday’s edition of the Daily Docket incorrectly described a ruling in Florida federal court over a law barring transgender and nonbinary teachers from using their preferred pronouns in class. The ruling blocked the state from enforcing the law against the teacher who sued challenging it.
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