Participants in the renewable energy industry should be aware of antitrust and competition rules because renewable energy is no longer a nascent field. Europe generated almost 40% of its electricity from renewable sources in...more
On February 3, 2023, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri granted MetLife’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim in Collins et al v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. In granting MetLife’s...more
On May 25, 2022, in Grossman v. GEICO Cas. Co. (No. 21-278), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of an attempted class action by two automobile policyholders alleging that GEICO...more
The Fifth Circuit recently issued an opinion, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Ultra Resources, Inc., in which it relied on and affirmed its prior 2004 decision — In re Mirant — and held that bankruptcy courts have the...more
On January 31, 2022, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a district court's dismissal of an antitrust challenge by a class of solar rooftop customers against their municipal utility, the Salt River Project...more
On June 22, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") issued an order concluding that FERC and the U.S. bankruptcy courts have concurrent jurisdiction to review and address the disposition of natural gas...more
On October 7, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (“Ninth Circuit”) vacated, as moot, two FERC orders asserting concurrent jurisdiction to review the disposition of certain Pacific Gas & Electric...more
On September 9, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (“First Circuit”) affirmed the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (“District Court”) dismissal of a lawsuit alleging...more
Periods of volatility in energy prices cause spikes in energy companies’ bankruptcies. These bankruptcies lead to debtors’ attempts to reject power purchase agreements (“PPAs”). These attempts ignite the unresolved legal...more
On December 12, 2019, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the bankruptcy court in the bankruptcy proceedings of FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (FES) has jurisdiction to decide whether...more
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali recently ruled in the Chapter 11 case of Pacific Gas & Electric (“PG&E”) that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) has no jurisdiction to interfere with the ability of a...more
The recent chapter 11 filings by PG&E Corp. and its Pacific Gas & Electric Co. utility subsidiary (collectively, "PG&E") and FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. have reignited the debate over the power of a U.S. bankruptcy court to...more
In a much-awaited and pivotal decision in the PG&E chapter 11 proceeding, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California held that it not only has exclusive jurisdiction over the rejection of wholesale...more
An important legal doctrine for companies that buy and sell in regulated markets is the “filed rate” doctrine, which limits legal challenges to rates determined by regulators such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...more
Currently at issue before the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is whether the filed rate doctrine prevents a court from assessing the reasonableness of a utility’s rates in the retail market. Under the filed rate...more
The new year began with dramatic growth in vehicle total loss class actions over payment of sales tax and title transfer and registration fees, interpretations of the filed rate doctrine, and further activity in labor...more
We have seen an increase in energy companies filing for bankruptcy, and more may be on the horizon. This is a great time to review and discuss an interesting ruling in the FirstEnergy case regarding the intersection of...more
Borrowers’ complaints alleging their mortgage servicers breached loan contracts and the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by charging “inflated amounts” for “force-placed” or “lender-placed” insurance and...more
The filed-rate doctrine precluded recovery of deficiency assessments the Workers’ Compensation Reinsurance Association (WCRA) levied against employers which were alleged to have been wrongfully collected in 2013 and 2014 when...more
On August 19, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit denied two wind generators’ (“Generators”) petitions for review of various Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders assigning the corrected...more
The filed rate doctrine can often provide a strong defense to an insurer in a class action claiming that insurance premiums were too high for some reason. A recent Second Circuit decision applied the doctrine broadly. This...more
Companies in regulated markets, such as insurance and energy, are increasing litigating issues surrounding the “filed rate doctrine,” or in other words, whether they can be sued in a class action where the remedy sought...more
In July 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit issued a ruling in which it relied upon the filed rate doctrine to dismiss a claim against a federally regulated natural gas company. In Medco Energi US, LLC v. Sea...more
In a Sept. 13, 2012 Competition Law 360 article, we discussed the Third Circuit’s opinion in McCray v. Fid. Nat’l Title Ins. Co., in which the Third Circuit applied the filed-rate doctrine to title insurers’ rate filings with...more
In This Issue: - STATE EFFORTS TO RESTRICT HEALTH INSURER USE OF “MOST FAVORED NATION” CLAUSES IN PROVIDER CONTRACTS CONTINUE TO MULTIPLY: Over the last several years, several states have considered legislation...more