Project Catalyst: An Economic Development Podcast | Episode 9: The Role of Railways in Economic Development with Brian Gwin of Norfolk Southern
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, clarifying the standards for judicial review of challenges to agency action under the National Environmental Policy Act...more
On May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, a case concerning the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that limits judicial review of...more
Seven County Infrastructure Coalition et al. v. Eagle County, Colorado, et al. The U.S. Supreme Court recently clarified the scope of federal agency review requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”)...more
In a landmark ruling issued May 29, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed the D.C. Circuit in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, sharply limiting the scope of environmental review...more
In a highly anticipated decision for project developers and permitting agencies, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the D.C. Circuit’s 2023 decision that had invalidated federal approval of the Uinta Basin Railway. In Seven...more
On May 29, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado that dramatically changes the way courts scrutinize federal agencies’ environmental reviews under the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court today upended a 40-year-old decision that made it easier for the federal government to regulate the environment, public health, workplace safety, and consumer protections, delivering a far-reaching and...more
A group of 19 AGs filed an amicus brief in support of Ohio’s petition for writ of certiorari in Ohio v. CSX Transportation, Inc. The case is before the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal from an Ohio Supreme Court decision holding...more
In an important case that could blow the doors open on personal jurisdiction so that corporations can be subject to suit anywhere they do business, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on Tuesday. In Mallory v. Norfolk...more
Interpretation of the phrase “in use” as used in the Locomotive Inspection Act (LIA) continues to baffle courts across the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States. On April 28, 2022, the Supreme Court let...more
What follows is a brief account of some of the notable U.S. environmental and administrative law cases recently decided. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT - Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution vests the President, with the advice...more
This past term, the U.S. Supreme Court decided two matters in which it unequivocally held that state courts’ ability to assert personal jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants is limited under both general and specific...more
The Supreme Court’s recent decision in BNSF Ry. Co. v. Tyrrell (BNSF), No. 16-405, 2017 WL 2322834, (U.S. May 30, 2017) demonstrates why personal jurisdiction should be examined in response to every lawsuit filed against a...more
Almost any business whose products or services reach customers in multiple states knows that there are some jurisdictions thought to be friendlier to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs’ lawyers know about those jurisdictions too, and...more
Fundamental fairness requires that before a company doing business in several states is sued in a particular state that it has substantial contacts with that state. Merely being present in that state will not satisfy the...more
On May 30, 2017, the Supreme Court decided BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell, No. 16-405, holding that § 56 of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) does not address personal jurisdiction and thus limiting the fora in which a...more
On May 30, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States held that section 56 of the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (FELA) does not address personal jurisdiction over railroads. The two underlying lawsuits were filed in...more
The U.S. Supreme Court in BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell, 2017 WL 2322834 (2017) made it harder for plaintiffs to sue in states where their alleged injury did not occur by reversing the Montana Supreme Court’s attempt to assert...more
“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” Many important environmental and administrative law decisions were reported by the federal and state courts over the past six months. The courts are dealing with very...more
The US Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”) codifies the doctrine of sovereign immunity and generally prohibits lawsuits in US courts against non-US sovereigns. But the FSIA has an exception where, among other things, a...more
A day after issuing its decision in Direct Marketing Ass’n v. Brohl, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Alabama Department of Revenue v. CSX Transportation, Inc. The Court held that a rail carrier can show discrimination under...more
On March 4, 2015, the Supreme Court decided Alabama Department of Revenue v. CSX Transportation, Inc., No. 13-553, holding that a rail carrier can prove discrimination under the Railroad Revitalization and Regulation Reform...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Dep't of Transp. v. Ass'n of Am. Railroads. At issue is whether Congress may grant Amtrak, a private entity created by Congress, the power to co-author regulations...more
On July 1, 2014, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to two state tax cases, just one day after denying certiorari in the Mississippi Equifax case. The two cases, which will be heard during the Court’s October 2014 term,...more
This week, the Supreme Court ruled that the United States Forest Service could not construct a trail on an abandoned railroad right of way (ROW) that crosses through private property. Brandt v. United States, No. 12-1173,...more