It was an interesting week for BLM’s hydraulic fracturing rule first finalized and then immediately challenged on March 26, 2015. On Monday (June 20, 2016), the BLM filed its final brief in the Tenth Circuit arguing that the Wyoming Federal District Court erred when...
Litigation
Tenth Circuit Grants Remittitur, Dramatically Reducing Large Wyoming Punitive Damages Award in Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Case
On April 1, 2016 the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a significant opinion in the personal injury case Amber Nicole Lompe, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sunridge Partners, LLC and Apartment Management Consultants, LLC, Defendants-Appellants, 10th...
Proposed Colorado Legislation Would Modify the Reasonable Accommodation Doctrine
Colorado House Bill 16-1310 was introduced on March 2, 2016, by State Senator Morgan Carroll (D) and State Representative Joseph Anthony Salazar (D). Under current Colorado law, to prevail on a claim against an oil and gas operator, the surface owner must present...
Electronic Communication in Modern Litigation
It goes without saying that use of electronically stored information constitutes a fundamental component of any modern, successful company, but state and federal courts have only recently adjusted their rules of discovery to reflect that. For example, the federal...
Get out of my sandbox! Expulsion of a LLC Member under Wyo. Stat. 17-29-602
So, you have a bad apple as a member of your Wyoming limited liability company (LLC), how do you get rid of them? The best option is usually to reach an agreement for the company or a specific member to purchase the troublemaker’s membership interest. If, however, an...
Preliminary Considerations in Condemnation Actions
In condemnation actions in Colorado, the condemning party must take great care to satisfy legal prerequisites prior to initiating suit and, in most cases, moving for immediate possession of the subject property. By statute, immediate possession will only be granted...
Employer Alert: Tenth Circuit Expands Scope of Hostile Environment Claims in Flashing Case
Last week, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals delivered new guidance as to the type of conduct that can support a hostile work environment claim in Macias v. Southwest Cheese Co.,(10th Cir. August 24, 2015) (https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/14/14-2109.pdf)....
Underground Rights are Defined in Texas
On August 19, 2015 the Fourth District Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that, because the surface estate owner controls “the matrix of the underlying earth,” it could grant an oil and gas operator the right to site wells on the surface...
The U.S. Supreme Court Disagreed with 10th Circuit’s Analysis in a Refusal-to-Hire Case Focused on the Wearing of a Religious Headscarf
On June 1, 2015, in an 8-1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Abercrombie & Fitch and for a Muslim job applicant, Elauf, who had been rejected for employment because her headscarf would conflict with the store's "Look Policy" which prohibited the...
Case Management and Rejection of “Lone Pine Orders” in Colorado
On April 27, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari to review a Colorado rancher's attempt to prevent oil development and related access on his ranch. Petitioner Stull Ranches had requested that the high court review and reverse a 2014...
Baseball Arbitration
Now that Spring Training is in full swing, let’s talk some baseball! Okay, not that kind of baseball, but another topic in our series on arbitration - “baseball arbitration.” Some parties are reluctant to submit disputes to arbitration because they worry about “split...
Arbitration Pitfalls – Broad or Narrow Scope
Arbitration Series - Part 3 of 3: When drafting an arbitration provision, careful attention should be given to the language describing the scope of disputes to be arbitrated. Unless the parties intend to arbitrate all disputes that may touch on or collaterally...