PHMSA Proposes New Pipeline Safety Regulations
Posted on Oct 6, 2015
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced proposed regulations to revise and update its pipeline safety standards and reporting requirements on October 1, 2015. The deadline to submit comments on the proposed rulemaking is January 8, 2016. PHMSA estimates that compliance with the proposed rule will cost the industry approximately $22.4 million. You can review Sutherland’s detailed summary of the proposed rule’s main proposals by clicking here.
Continue Reading
Refinery’s Insurance Claims Following Supply Interruption Caused By Pipeline Rupture Taken Up In Arkansas
Posted on Sep 28, 2015
An Arkansas refinery received oil from a pipeline owned and operated by a third party. In 2007, the pipeline owner inspected the pipeline and identified anomalies at various locations. The inspection vendor, however, misidentified one anomaly as a seam weld unlikely to cause a failure but this particular weld anomaly caused the pipeline to rupture in April 2012. After the rupture, the pipeline owner shut down the pipeline and notified the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (“PHMSA”), which later issued a Corrective Action Order requiring the pipeline owner...
Continue Reading
Statute Of Repose Bars Claims That Hexavalent Chromium Exposure Caused Death Of Exposed Worker
Posted on Sep 25, 2015
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed claims brought by a family of a deceased worker alleging that the worker’s death resulted from lung cancer caused by prolonged exposure to hazardous chromium ore processing residues (“COPR”) at a Maryland marine terminal. Specifically, plaintiffs claimed that the defendant operated a chromium manufacturing plant that produced COPR, which contains hexavalent chromium, a potent carcinogen. Beginning in the 1950s, the defendant company used COPR as fill to reclaim land from the Patapsco River to be used by the...
Continue Reading
Illinois Court Finds Subcontractor’s Insurer Must Defend Contractor Following Workplace Incident
Posted on Sep 22, 2015
An Illinois court yesterday confronted an insurer’s duty to defend an additional insured under the terms of a commercial general liability policy issued to a third party following a workplace incident. In 2012, a subcontractor’s employee fell off a roof, sustained serious injuries, and brought a personal injury action against the project’s general contractor. The subcontractor’s insurer then filed a declaratory judgment suit asking the court to declare it had no duty to defend the general contractor in the underlying personal injury suit. The general contractor and...
Continue Reading
Western Hat Manufacturer’s $18 Million Verdict Upheld After Plant Consumed By Utility’s Alleged Negligence
Posted on Sep 18, 2015
Following a catastrophic Texas grass fire that consumed a hat manufacturing plant and the nearly 500,000 western hats inside the plant, the owner of the plant (the Manufacturer) brought suit against the Utility that owned the utility pole where the fire originated. Specifically, the electrically-charged overhead service line became disconnected from one end of a connector, and the disconnected line contacted the ground wire on the pole, which caused electrical arcing and melted the ends of the metal wires in the disconnected line. When the molten metal fell to the dry grass underneath, a...
Continue Reading
Complaint Against Table Saw Manufacturers For Alleged Conspiracy To Boycott Safety Technology Can Proceed
Posted on Sep 15, 2015
The Fourth Circuit decided earlier today that a complaint filed by the company that created an “active injury mitigation technology” meant to prevent certain hand and finger injuries on table saws that alleges antitrust violations against the largest table saw manufacturers can go forward. The contentious 2-1 ruling reverses a district court judge’s grant of the manufacturers’ motion to dismiss. The court ruled that the plaintiff has in fact alleged enough to suggest a plausible agreement by the manufacturers to engage in a group boycott of the plaintiff’s...
Continue Reading
Oil Refinery Owner’s Convictions Related To Uncovered Equalization Tanks Reversed By Fifth Circuit
Posted on Sep 5, 2015
Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit reversed a petroleum company’s criminal convictions under the Clean Air Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (“MBTA”). The reversal vacated fines of $2 million under the Clean Air Act and $15,000 for each violation of the MBTA. In an unannounced inspection of a Texas refinery in 2012, state environmental inspectors discovered 130,000 barrels of oil floating atop uncovered equalization tanks and cited the refinery for violating the Clean Air Act. Under Subpart QQQ, all oil-water separators must have roofs. The oil company argued on appeal...
Continue Reading
FEATURED
The Crisis Response & Incident Investigation Team at Eversheds Sutherland has substantial experience in guiding companies through crises, big and small, in providing a coordinated response to help mitigate risk and liability. More>>