Lawsuit

Judge Scrapped Pennsylvania Families’ $4.24M Water Pollution Verdict In Gas Drilling Lawsuit

April 14, 2017 Sharon Kelly and Steve Horn, www.nationofchange.org Resist! Courts, Lawsuit, Pennsylvania, Water Pollution

By Sharon Kelly and Steve Horn for Nation of Change - For many residents of Carter Road in Dimock, Pennsylvania, it’s been nearly a decade since their lives were turned upside down by the arrival of Cabot Oil and Gas, a company whose Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) wells were plagued by a series of spills and other problems linked to the area’s contamination of drinking water supplies. With a new federal court ruling handed down late last Friday, a judge unwound a unanimous eight-person jury which had ordered Cabot to pay a total of $4.24 million over the contamination of two of those families’ drinking water wells. In a 58 page ruling, Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson discarded the jury’s verdict in Ely v. Cabot and ordered a new trial, extending the legal battle over one of the highest-profile and longest-running fracking-related water contamination cases in the country. In his order, Judge Carlson chastised the plaintiff’s lawyers for “repeatedly inviting the jury to engage in unwarranted speculation” and wrote that, in his personal estimation...

‘We Are Not Free’ – Pennsylvania Sues Communities For Banning Frack Waste

April 6, 2017 Melissa A. Troutman, www.publicherald.org Resist! Fracking, Lawsuit, Pennsylvania

By Melissa A. Troutman for Public Herald - As an elected official, it is Stacy Long’s sworn duty to protect her constituents. As a resident, and now as a supervisor of Grant Township in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, she and her fellow citizens have taken bold steps to fight against government and industry who want to force oil and gas waste into their rural community. “This isn’t a game. We’re being threatened by a corporation with a history of permit violations, and that corporation wants to dump toxic frack wastewater into our Township,” Long told Public Herald last year. In 2015, Grant Township adopted the nation’s first municipal charter establishing a local bill of rights with help from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF).

10 States & Enviros Sue DOE Over Energy Efficiency Standards

April 5, 2017 Jonathan Stempel, www.reuters.com Resist! Environment, Lawsuit, Trump Administration

By Jonathan Stempel for Reuters - A coalition of U.S. states has mounted a broad legal challenge against what it called the Trump administration's illegal suspension of rules to improve the energy efficiency of ceiling fans, portable air conditioners and other products. The challenge, also joined by environmental groups, came after the U.S. Department of Energy last month delayed standards proposed under the Obama administration to reduce air pollution and operating costs associated with the products. Ten Democratic attorneys general, plus New York City and a Pennsylvania regulator, on Monday notified Energy Secretary Rick Perry of their plan to sue in 60 days for stalling proposed standards for air compressors, commercial boilers, portable air conditioners, power supplies, and walk-in coolers and freezers.

Lawsuit Filed Against Trump’s Anti-Climate Executive Order

March 30, 2017 Staff, www.earthjustice.org Educate! Climate Change, Donald Trump, Lawsuit

By Staff of Earth Justice - ON MARCH 28, PRESIDENT TRUMP ISSUED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER directing the Department of Interior to resume giving away tens of thousands of acres of public lands to the coal industry, overturning a coal-leasing moratorium put in place by the Obama administration. A day later, that’s exactly what the Department of Interior did. The pause in leasing was ordered last year by former Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to allow time to review and reform the federal program to ensure protection of the climate. The coal leasing program determines how 570 million publicly-owned acres are leased to coal companies for exploration and mining. It has not been significantly updated since 1979.

Jury Awards $10 Million To Family Of Man Left On Jail Cell Naked With Broken Neck

March 23, 2017 Jessica Remer, www.ktul.com Resist! Lawsuit, police brutality

By Jessica Remer for ABC Tulsa - TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) -- Jurors have awarded the family of Elliott Williams more than $10 million after a wrongful death lawsuit against the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office. Williams died in the Tulsa County Jail in 2011. Lawyers for Williams' family argued the sheriff's department violated his civil rights when deputies left him on the jail floor with a broken neck. After a three-week trial, jurors found in favor of Williams' family, awarding them $10 million from Tulsa County and another $250,000 from former Sheriff Stanley Glanz. The family's attorney, Dan Smolen, says finding the jail responsible for Williams' death was the only conclusion a jury could reach.

800 Families Just Filed A Lawsuit Against Saudi Arabia Over 9/11

March 22, 2017 Carey Wedler, www.activistpost.com Resist! 9/11, Lawsuit, Saudi Arabia

By Carey Wedler for Activist Post - Eight-hundred families of 9/11 victims and 1,500 first responders, along with others who suffered as a result of the attacks, have filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia over its alleged complicity in the 2001 terror attacks, according to an exclusive report by local New York outlet Pix 11. The legal document, filed in a federal court in Manhattan, describes the Saudi role in the attacks. Pix 11 reports: The document details how officials from Saudi embassies supported hijackers Salem al-Hazmi and Khalid Al-Mihdhar 18 months before 9/11. The officials allegedly helped them find apartments, learn English and obtain credit cards and cash. The documents state that the officials helped them learn how to blend into the American landscape.

Youth In Climate Lawsuit Seek Rex Tillerson Pseudonym Emails

March 21, 2017 Julia Olson and Phillip Gregory, wwwo.urchildrenstrust.org Resist! Climate Change, Lawsuit, Trump Administration, Youth

By Julia Olson and Phillip Gregory for Our Children's Trust - While risk-management issues related to climate change are important to the New York Attorney General’s investigation, attorneys representing youth plaintiffs suspect the emails will also reveal the deep influence of the fossil fuel defendants over U.S. energy and climate policies, and the defendants’ private acknowledgement that climate change was caused by their product, both of which are important to the youth’s case. To the latter point, the fossil fuel defendants have refused to take a position on whether climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels, even when pressed by federal judges to answer that question.

Dakota Access Pipeline Lawsuit Denied, Construction Continues

March 10, 2017 Blake Nicholson, www.AP.org Resist! Dakota Access Pipeline, Lawsuit

By Blake Nicholson for Associated Press - BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - A federal judge declined Tuesday to temporarily stop construction of the final section of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline, clearing the way for oil to flow as soon as next week. The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes pledged to continue their legal fight against the project, even after the pipeline begins operating. The tribes had asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington to direct the Army Corps of Engineers to withdraw permission for Texas-based developer Energy Transfer Partners to lay pipe under Lake Oahe in North Dakota. The stretch under the Missouri River reservoir in southern North Dakota...

Oklahoma Tribe Sues Oil Companies In Tribal Court Over Earthquake

March 7, 2017 Shaun Murphy, www.globalnews.ca Resist! Earthquakes, Indigenous Peoples, Lawsuit, Oil, Oklahoma

By Shaun Murphy for Global News - OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma-based Native American tribe filed a lawsuit in its own tribal court system Friday accusing several oil companies of triggering the state’s largest earthquake that caused extensive damage to some near-century-old tribal buildings. The Pawnee Nation alleges in the suit that wastewater injected into wells operated by the defendants caused the 5.8-magnitude quake in September and is seeking physical damages to real and personal property, market value losses, as well as punitive damages. The case will be heard in the tribe’s district court with a jury composed of Pawnee Nation members.

Monsanto Cancer Lawsuits Shift Over EPA Official’s ‘Highly Suspicious’ Role

March 3, 2017 Lorraine Chow, www.nationofchange.org Resist! Cancer, EPA, Lawsuit, Monsanto

By Lorraine Chow for Nation of Change - An EPA scientist says that Rowland and another official “intimidated staff” into changing reports related to the glyphosate findings. Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Jess Rowland may have to testify over claims that he covered up evidence that glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto‘s top-selling herbicide Roundup, could cause cancer. A federal judge said at a hearing in San Francisco on Monday that he is likely to grant the deposition of Rowland, a key figure named in multi-district cancer lawsuits alleging that Monsanto failed to warn about the cancer risks associated with exposure to glyphosate.

Coalition Sues Challenging Trumps Order On Removing Regulations

February 9, 2017 Phillip Ellis, www.earthjustice.org Resist! Donald Trump, Lawsuit, Regulation

By Phillip Ellis for Earthjustice - Public Citizen, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Communications Workers of America represented by Earthjustice sued the Trump administration today to block an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Jan. 30 that directs federal agencies to repeal two federal regulations for every new rule they issue. The plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a declaration that the order cannot be lawfully implemented and bar the agencies from implementing the order. The order requires new rules to have a net cost of $0 this fiscal year, without taking into account the value of the benefits of public protections.

Youth Seek Testimony From Exxon’s Rex Tillerson In Fed. Climate Lawsuit

December 30, 2016 Staff, www.ecowatch.com Resist! Climate Change, Exxon, Lawsuit

By Staff of Eco Watch - The notice seeks Tillerson's testimony by way of deposition on Jan. 19, 2017, in Dallas, Texas. The notice was served on Sidley Austin, the law firm representing three defendants in the constitutional climate lawsuit: American Petroleum Institute (API), National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM). In his deposition, Tillerson will be asked questions about his knowledge relevant to the youths' claims that their constitutional rights have been violated. As CEO of ExxonMobil, Tillerson has unique personal knowledge of the fossil fuel industry's historical relationship with the federal government.

Debate Commission Loses One-Third Of Board Members

December 23, 2016 Staff, www.ivn.us Resist! Lawsuit, National Commission on Presidential Debates, Open Debates

By Staff of IVN - The Commission on Presidential Debates, or CPD, has been under fire for its policies for several years now. For the past 24 years, the CPD has excluded anyone but the Republican and Democratic nominees from participating in the three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate in September and October before the election. An important lawsuit, Level the Playing Field, et al. v. Federal Election Commission, goes before a federal judge on Jan. 5. That suit seeks to accomplish what the CPD has refused to do on its own: change the rules to stop systematically preventing independent candidates from debating – and becoming president. Meanwhile, it seems no coincidence that the CPD itself is disintegrating.

Ecuador’s Indigenous People Take Their Case Against Chevron To Canada

December 21, 2016 Yasmin Khan, www.counterpunch.org Resist! Canada, Chevron, Ecuador, Indigenous Peoples, Lawsuit

By Yasmin Khan for Counter Punch - With eyes red with fatigue, Pablo Fajardo stood in front of a room of activists in Toronto, Canada explaining the plight of the more than 30,000 indigenous peoples and farmers whose lands in the Ecuadorian Amazon are covered in toxic sludge. Fajardo was presenting evidence that the pollution stems from decades of oil extractions by Chevron-Texaco, one of the world’s largest oil companies. He and his clients are fighting a drawn-out legal battle that is part of a growing list of high-profile cases brought by indigenous communities against extractive industries...

Water Protector Legal Collective Sues For Excessive Force Against Peaceful Protesters

December 2, 2016 Tasha Moro, www.waterprotectorlegal.org Resist! #NoDAPL, Lawsuit, Protests

By Tasha Moro for NLG - CANNON BALL, ND —Today, the Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC-formerly Red Owl), an initiative of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), filed suit in US District Court against Morton County, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirschmeier, and other law enforcement agencies for using excessive force against peaceful Water Protectors on the night of November 20, 2016. The class action suit, filed on behalf of persons who were injured on the night of November 20 and early morning of November 21, seeks an immediate injunction preventing the Morton County Sheriff’s Department...

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