Law Firm News

---

Law Firm News

Firm Name

News Title

News

News Date

25383 matches |  1191-1197 displayed

1  171 172 173 174 175  3627

---

Frilot, Partridge, Kohnke & Clements, L.C.

Firm’s Successful Representation of Murphy Oil in Katrina Oil Spill
Shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated southeast Louisiana, an oil tank on Murphy Oil USA, Inc.’s (“Murphy”) refinery property released approximately 25,000 barrels of oil. The tank floated and subsequently ruptured after it was inundated with approximately 12 feet of flood waters that resulted from the extensive breaching and failure of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ levees along the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, less than 5 miles north of the refinery. Most of the oil was contained within the refinery, but some migrated into the surrounding community.

Twenty-eight class action suits were filed against Murphy shortly after the spill. After these class actions were consolidated, the lawyers representing the plaintiff class billed the case as the largest environmental case since the Exxon Valdez spill (a case with a total exposure of over $6 billion).

In defending Murphy, the firm coordinated the following activities to minimize the total cost of the claim and limit Murphy’s exposure:

• Voluntary Settlement Program: In October of 2005, Murphy began a successful Voluntary Settlement Program which lasted through August 2006. Through this program, Murphy settled with over 2,700 property owners. This motivated the class action plaintiff lawyers to agree to a favorable class settlement because the Voluntary Settlement Program was rapidly reducing the size of the plaintiff class.

• Stringent opposition to Plaintiffs’ Proposed Class: The Plaintiffs’ proposed class included over 11,000 properties and 25,000 individual claimants. In developing a litigation plan that demonstrated the mode, timing and extent of the spill through extensive scientific testing and analysis, the firm successfully opposed the plaintiffs’ proposed class boundaries, resulting in a more manageable class, including approximately 6,500 properties with 11,000 claimants.

• Defeating the Class Plaintiffs’ Punitive Damages, Oil Pollution Act, Fraud, and Fear of Future Disease Claims: The firm aggressively opposed Plaintiffs’ punitive damages, Oil Pollution Act, fraud, and fear of future disease claims through the filing of several motions to dismiss at the inception of the litigation. This subsequently limited damages available to the class and led to the ultimate class settlement on favorable terms.

• Defeating the Class Plaintiffs’ Remediation Damages: Since the spill, Murphy with the Firm’s assistance worked with federal and state regulatory agencies in devising a comprehensive plan to remediate the affected area. In July of 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (“LDEQ”), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (“ATSDR”) and Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (“LDHH”) approved a comprehensive remediation plan – the Closure Plan. While Murphy had begun implementing this agency-approved remediation plan with respect to properties owned by individuals that elected to settle with Murphy outside of the class action, no comprehensive clean-up had been done on the class members’ properties because the plaintiff attorneys opposed such a remediation. As a result of the plaintiff attorneys’ opposition, in July of 2006, Murphy filed a motion, pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 23(d), requesting the Court to grant it access to the class area so that the agency-approved remediation plan could be implemented. In August 2006, the Court granted Murphy’s motion. This seriously limited the class plaintiffs’ claims for remediation damages.

• Litigating Until the Eve of Trial: By aggressively litigating the issues until the eve of trial, the Firm was able to prevail on many important fronts, including the successful opposition to Plaintiffs’ attempts to preclude allocation of fault to the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers; the discreditation of Plaintiffs’ expert witnesses’ testimony on the timing of the spill and the quantity that escaped into the community. Again, this limited the size of the class settlement.

• Class Settlement: On January 30, 2007, U.S. District Judge E. Fallon, Eastern District of Louisiana, issued Order and Reasons Approving Class Action Settlement and Award of Common-Benefit Fees and Expenses. Less than 2 years from the spill, most of the settlement benefits have been implemented and Murphy has been released from the vast majority of the liabilities associated with the oil spill. The class was settled for substantially less than the amounts sought by the class of plaintiffs and for a very small fraction of the Exxon Valdez exposure.

08-25-2007

---

Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP

JULIE SPELLMAN SWEET TO CHAIR AND RICHARD HALL TO SPEAK AT LEGALWORKS PRIVATE EQUITY CONFERENCE.
Cravath partners Julie Spellman Sweet and Richard Hall will speak at "Private Equity 2008: What You Need to Know Now", a West Legalworks conference to be held at The Pierre hotel in New York City. Julie will chair the program and will moderate a panel discussion entitled "Navigating Critical Ethics Issues in Private Equity". She will also participate as a panelist in two discussions: "Hot Topics Impacting Private Equity M&A in 2007 and 2008" and "Private Equity Firms Facing a Public Future: What Every Firm Must Know". Richard will moderate a panel discussion entitled "Key Legal Developments in M&A Affecting Tomorrow's Private Equity Deals".

08-24-2007

---

Jorden Burt LLP

SEC Seniors Summit Registration Information
As reported earlier this month, the SEC will convene its second annual Seniors Summit in Washington, DC on September 10, 2007.

08-24-2007

---

Rothman Gordon

JOHN ZATKOS NAMED "LAWYER ON THE FAST TRACK"
2007—John Zatkos, a partner in the Workers' Compensation and Social Security Disability practice of Rothman Gordon, P.C., has been selected as a "Lawyer on the Fast Track," an award bestowed upon Pennsylvania lawyers under 40 by The Legal Intelligencer and the Pennsylvania Law Weekly.

The award was created by ALM and its Pennsylvania newspapers to honor young lawyers who are an asset to the Pennsylvania legal community. John was chosen because he has shown outstanding promise in the legal profession and has made a significant commitment to the community-at-large, especially through his dedication to educating workers, especially those in the labor community, of their rights under the Workers' Compensation Act.

The award recipients were honored at a dinner in Philadelphia on September 20, 2007 and U.S. Middle District Judge John E. Jones III was the keynote speaker. John will also be profiled along with the other honorees in a special supplement to the September 24th editions of the Pennsylvania Law Weekly and The Legal Intelligencer.

Mr. Zatkos received his B.A. from Rutgers University and his J.D. from Duquesne University. He is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Zatkos resides in Moon Township with his wife, Nancy Toppetta and their dog, Bruno.

08-24-2007

---

Matheson, Ormsby & Prentice, P.C.

International Council for Commercial Arbitration to hold annual council in Ireland
The International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), the leading world-wide organisation devoted to promoting international arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution, will hold its annual council in Ireland from the 8-10 June 2008.

Matheson Ormsby Prentice will co-sponsor a reception in Trinity College on the evening of Monday 9 June 2008.

In advance of the annual council, Matheson Ormsby Prentice will also host the Annual General Meeting of Arbitral Women on Saturday 7 June 2008 in its offices at 70 Sir John Rogerson's Quay. Arbitral Women is a group of professional women from all over the world who are active in arbitration and alternative dispute resolution internationally.

08-24-2007

---

Lane Powell PC

Riley Discusses Lane Powell's Succession Plans
Charles Riley appeared in the Puget Sound Business Journal on August 24, 2007, regarding the succession plans that many law firms are now drafting. In the article, "Firms make plans to carry on when leaders go," Riley discusses Lane Powell's own succession plan, which was started about 10 years ago: "It goes a long way to reduce the reluctance of senior lawyers to hand off to a more junior attorney. That makes the transition a lot easier."

08-24-2007

---

Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, L.L.P.

Carlyle in $349 Million IPO
Cleary Gottlieb represented the initial purchasers and placement agents led by Citigroup Global Markets Limited in Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited's (CCCL) global offering and listing on Eurolist by Euronext of 18,357,073 Class B shares. The deal is one of the few successful permanent capital vehicle offerings in the alternative asset industry. The shares were offered pursuant to Reg. S outside the U.S. and as restricted depositary shares pursuant to Reg. D and Rule 144A to U.S. investors. The initial offering price per share was $19 and trading began on Eurolist on July 4. The deal priced on July 3 and closed (including the over-allotment option) on July 11.

The deal was the first time a Carlyle Group affiliate has made a public offering of shares. It supplemented $600 million raised by CCCL in a prior private placement that closed in January in which Cleary Gottlieb also represented the placement agents.

Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited is a Guernsey limited company that was formed in August 2006 to invest in a diversified portfolio of fixed income assets of mortgage products and leveraged finance assets. CCCL’s investment portfolio is managed by the Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private investment firms.

08-24-2007

---

25383 matches |  1191-1197 displayed

1  171 172 173 174 175  3627