Much has been written about the consequences of failing to establish a reasonable plan to preserve documents once there is a duty to preserve. However, surprisingly little has been written about when a party can resume its normal document retention and destruction policy. The good news is that eventually the litigation hold can be lifted; the bad news is that you may not be able to life the hold as soon as you would hope or like ...
One of the provisions of the West Virginia Horizontal Well Control Act passed in December 2011 increased the permit fees for horizontal wells from $400 to $10,000. At the time this legislation was under consideration, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Randy Huffman told the legislature that the increased permit fee would allow him to nearly double the Inspection and Enforcement staff within the Office of Oil and Gas, which at that time numbered 17 ...
The new Waste Act of 14 December 2012 went into force on 23 January 2013. It introduces major changes in the waste management system in Poland. The prior Waste Act of 27 April 2001 will continue to apply in certain areas, however. The new Waste Act was enacted primarily in order to implement the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC) into Polish law. The deadline for transposing the directive was 12 December 2010 ...
On January 16, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) submitted the final 2013 Vessel General Permit (VGP) to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The 2013 VGP, which will be issued under the Clean Water Act (CWA), will replace the 2008 VGP and will regulate discharges incidental to the normal operation of commercial vessels greater than or equal to 79 feet in length. See 76 Fed. Reg. 76,716 (Dec. 8, 2011) ...
Here are select December 2012 rulings of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on criminal law and procedure: 1. REVISED PENAL CODE Rape; Pruna Guidelines ...
Here are select December 2012 rulings of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on commercial law:Corporations; liability of corporate officers. Settled is the rule that debts incurred by directors, officers, and employees acting as corporate agents are not their direct liability but of the corporation they represent, except if they contractually agree/stipulate or assume to be personally liable for the corporation’s debts, as in this case. Ildefonso S. Crisologo vs ...
The Scottish Courts: The largest volume of litigation takes place in the Sheriff Courts located throughout Scotland, which are similar to the County Courts in England & Wales in that they typically handle disputes which are relatively straightforward and low value ...
Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, serve a profoundly important function under the federal Clean Water Act. They provide regulators with a systematic and comprehensive mechanism for identifying all sources and causes of water quality impairment, and then calculating the reductions needed to address the impairment in an equitable manner. But for TMDLs to be effective, they must be derived in a legally and technically defensible manner ...
On December 5, 2012, EPA issued revised enforcement guidance to assist agency personnel in exercising enforcement discretion regarding the treatment of tenants under Superfund’s bona fide prospective purchaser (BFPP) defense. (See here.) The revised guidance supersedes guidance the agency had issued on January 14, 2009 and expands some of the protections ...
If you have ever had a project on land on which wetlands or other “waters of the U.S.” were present, you know that project was more expensive because of the costs of permitting and mitigation for wetland losses, or the presence of wetlands may have resulted in abandonment or significant revision of the project to minimize losses of wetlands or other waters of the U.S. In their prior two “waters of the U.S.” decisions, Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook Cty. v. Army Corps of Engineers, 531 U ...
With a law enacted on 17 December 2012, the Finnish parliament moved forward on the longstanding plan to house intellectual property rights disputes in the Market Court. This legislative reform has a significant impact for all companies operating in Finland. The Market Court will start to hear these disputes in the autumn of 2013 ...
Grid Code amended In December of last year, the Serbian Transmission System Operator amended the Grid Code. These amendments did not substantially change the code, but did introduce changes in: - technical conditions for connecting to the grid, including specific conditions for connecting generating units, and - access to the grid. The amendments are published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 02/12 ...
On Oct. 22, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by granting a right of way for the Ruby Pipeline project. Center for Biological Diversity v. Bureau of Land Management, No. 10-72356 (9th Cir. Oct. 22, 2012) ...
As we embark upon the season of goodwill, those wishing to embrace the Christmas cheer may wish to consider settlement of an ongoing commercial dispute bringing peace and goodwill to all - besides saving their business time and money in the process.Should you settle? Parties settle disputes for a variety of reasons ...
A Polish company enters into a contract with a German company. Which country’s law will govern the contract? Monika Hartung: To start with, under Art. 3 of the Rome I Regulation (Regulation 593/2008 of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations), the parties themselves may select the law governing the contract. The previous version of Poland’s Private International Law required the existence of a link, e.g ...
On October 15, 2012, Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC filed suit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Independent Petroleum Association of America (“IPAA”) and six other state-level oil and gas associations (PA, WV, OH, KY, IL, IN), (referred to herein as “the Associations”) challenging the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) New Source Performance Standards (“NSPS”) promulgated for the oil and natural gas industry on August 16, 2012 ...
On October 15, 2012, IOGA-WV, the Independent Petroleum Association of America (“IPAA”) and five other state-level oil and gas associations filed suit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) New Source Performance Standards (“NSPS”) promulgated for the oil and natural gas industry on August 16, 2012 ...
FAQ on the Belgian Pre-Contractual Information in the Framework of Commercial Co-operation Agreements Act of 19 December 2005.Belgium has a specific legal regime protecting the economically weaker party in certain commercial partnership agreements (i.e. the Pre-Contractual Information in the Framework of Commercial Co-operation Agreements Act of 19 December 2005 – “the Act”) ...
As Denmark is situated between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, the prevailing weather conditions suggest that wind power should constitute a major part of the country's total power production. While onshore wind turbines have dominated the Danish landscape for decades, offshore wind turbine parks have been erected in Danish waters in recent years ...
On Aug. 31, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued its decision in In re Charter Communications Inc., (2d Cir. Aug. 31, 2012), expressly adopting an abuse of discretion standard for reviewing equitable mootness determinations ...
B.C. Environment Minister Terry Lake and Energy, Mines and Natural Gas Minister Rich Coleman refused to issue an Environmental Assessment Certificate (“EAC”) to Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. for its proposed Morrison Copper/Gold Mine project near Smithers, at the headwaters of the Skeena River ...
Over the course of 2012, on at least three occasions the Federal Circuit has found anticipation in a situation in which previously the invention would have merely been viewed as obvious:(1) where the prior art merely proposes the steps of the method, without knowledge of whether those method steps will achieve any result, much less the result claimed in the therapeutic method; (2) where the prior art discloses a broader range without providing a “pattern of preference” for a later-claimed narrow
BackgroundIndustrial activities are of great importance to Europe’s financial wealth. Industrial emissions, however, cause environmental pollution and industrial emissions constitute a major part of Europe’s total emissions to air, water and soil. Consequently, there is a need for regulation of industrial operations at an EU level.In view hereof the so-called IPPC Directive (Integrated Pollution Prevention Control) was adopted in 1996 ...
Even a cursory review of relevant news stories today reveals that hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) is one of the most hotly debated subjects in the energy sector. Both environmentalists and regulators are keeping concerns about fracking at the forefront of their agendas. Since late May of this year, there have been a number of key legal developments related to the issue that merit the attention of the oil and gas industry ...
As of January 1, 2013, Quebec and California will emerge as the first two Western Climate Initiative (WCI) Partners to create a carbon market that imposes binding targets on businesses identified as major greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters ...
