US Court of Appeals Archives

Oct 24, 2018

Increased Regulation Coming for Coal Ash

The decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on August 21 in Utility Solid Waste Activities Group (USWAG), et al v. EPA, No. 15-1219, likely will lead to more stringent regulation of coal ash disposal at both active and inactive power plants. In a per curiam opinion, the D.C. Circuit agreed with challenges asserted by environmental plaintiffs that the Obama-era coal ash rule did not establish stringent enough controls on coal ash disposal and management. The Court ruled that EPA’s failure to require protective measures for coal ash disposal sites without composite liners, and… Read more

Oct 3, 2018

Federal Circuit Reverses Apple’s $500 Million Patent Infringement Liability

Not all decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit make national news, but last week the appellate court threw out a half a billion dollar win for the patent licensing wing of the University of Wisconsin called WARF – Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. WARF’s patent covered how computer processors execute program instructions, in a way to speed up processing. While a Wisconsin jury found the patent to be valid and infringed by Apple, the Federal Circuit agreed on validity, but found the jury had no reasonable basis for its verdict that Apple infringed. Over the course of… Read more

May 3, 2016

States Challenge EPA’s Clean Power Plan

More than two dozen states, along with industry, utility and other groups, have joined a lawsuit challenging the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The challengers argue that Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act does not authorize the EPA to implement the Clean Power Plan as currently written. The plaintiffs assert that the EPA’s rule would fundamentally transform the domestic energy sector, and that the Clean Air Act does not authorize the agency to make such sweeping changes. According to statements from Plaintiffs, the case is not about the wisdom of any particular policy; rather, it is about whether the EPA… Read more

Oct 6, 2015

Court Again Dismisses Clean Power Plan Challenges As Premature

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected two lawsuits brought by 15 states and Peabody Energy Corp., which seek to block the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The lawsuits are In re West Virginia, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1277; In re Peabody Energy Corp., D.C. Cir., No. 15-1284. The final Clean Power Plan has not yet been issued, and EPA expects that it will be published in late October. The petitioners requested that the Court issue an extraordinary writ under the All Writs Act to block the final Clean Power Plan, arguing that the rule is… Read more