Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Author: Gibbons P.C.

Gibbons Part of Team Nominated by NAIOP for Mixed-Use Deal of the Year

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Posted in Development/Redevelopment / Real Estate / Transactional Real Estate and Leasing

On March 20, 2017

NAIOP New Jersey, the commercial real estate development association, has announced the finalists for its Deal of the Year Awards. Gibbons P.C. was part of the team nominated for Mixed-Use Deal of the Year for the project involving the disposition of the Hoffmann-La Roche US headquarters in Nutley and Clifton, New Jersey. Winners in the categories of Industrial Deal of the Year, Office Deal of the Year, and Mixed-Use Deal of the Year will be announced at the 30th Annual Commercial Real Estate Awards Gala on May 11, 2017. Gibbons was part of the team that led the successful sale of the former 116-acre headquarters and research and development campus of Hoffmann-La Roche, which spans the municipalities of Nutley and Clifton, to Prism Capital Partners and a Boston-based investment manager. As part of the transaction, a joint venture between Hackensack University Medical Center and Seton Hall University will lease two of the campus buildings and 16 acres of the property for the new Seton Hall–Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, the first new private medical school in New Jersey in over 40 years. The new site will also house Seton Hall’s College of Nursing and its School of Health and Medical Sciences, along with a National Health Institute-designated Clinical Research Center that Hackensack Meridian plans to...

EPA Agrees to Push Back Comment Deadline for Proposed Financial Assurance Regs

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On March 7, 2017

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) recently extended the public comment period for a proposed rule which would impose financial assurances requirements for cleanups conducted by companies in the hardrock mining industry, as required by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”). In publishing the proposed rule on January 11, 2017, the EPA established a 60-day comment period for impacted parties to present their views on the rule to EPA. An overview of the financial assurance requirements imposed by CERCLA and the details of the proposed rule can be found in our prior posts on June 13, 2016 and January 4, 2017. On February 17, 2017, Congressmen Greg Walden (R-OR), Rob Bishop (R-UT), and Bill Shuster (R- PA) asked then-acting EPA Administrator Catherine McCabe to extend the comment period into the summer of 2017, citing the intricacies of the rule and complicated statistics on which EPA relied in drafting the rule. A week later, on February 24, 2017, recently confirmed EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt granted the request and extended the comment period by four months, claiming that the extension was in response to dozens of requests from stakeholders, in addition to the letter from the congressmen. Comments on the proposed rule are now due by July 11, 2017. The environmental attorneys at...

Tenth Circuit finds that Ch. 11 Bankruptcy Debtor’s Settlement of CERCLA Claims No Bar to Post-Reorganization Contribution Action Against Other PRPs

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On March 6, 2017

The Tenth Circuit recently ruled in Asarco, LLC v. Noranda Mining, Inc. that a mining company (“Plaintiff”) could maintain a contribution action against another mining operation (“Defendant”) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) despite the Plaintiff’s earlier representation in Bankruptcy proceedings that its fair share of liability for contamination at the site in question was $8.7 million — the amount it paid to settle the Environmental Protection Agency’s claim. The pertinent facts arose, largely, from the Plaintiff’s Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and a global settlement of all environmental claims. The global settlement, reached in 2009, resolved environmental claims at 52 different sites across 19 states, with a total cost of about $1.79 billion. Included among the myriad claims being settled was the one at issue in this case: an $8.7 million payment to address the Plaintiff’s share of liability at two related sites near Park City, Utah (“the site”). Defending the reasonableness of the settlement figure before the Bankruptcy Court, the Plaintiff maintained that $8.7 million represented its proportionate share of liability for contamination at the site. In 2013, following its Chapter 11 reorganization, the Plaintiff filed a CERCLA contribution claim against the Defendant, another potentially responsible party at the site, arguing that the $8.7 million it paid to settle the EPA’s...

New Jersey Legislature Focuses on Drone Technology

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Posted in State Legislative and Budget Matters

On February 21, 2017

The First Legislative District Economic Development Task Force (“Task Force”) will meet on February 23, 2017, to discuss unmanned aviation technology and the potential impact it could have on the Southern New Jersey region. The Task Force, established by the New Jersey Senate in 2014 and reauthorized in 2016, was charged with “identifying methods, policies, regulations, incentives, and tools to foster economic activity and create jobs in Atlantic, Cape May, and Cumberland counties.” To accomplish its work, the 11-member Task Force is composed of a broad cross-section of thought leaders from the political, educational, and economic spheres. Over the last three years, the Task Force has met multiple times and has studied several issues of importance to the region. It has also studied aquaculture development and educational initiatives to develop a more skillful workforce. Throughout their deliberations, the members of the Task Force have identified actions that will grow the workforce and position the region to attract and support innovation. As the home of the William J. Hughes Technical Center and Stockton University, Southern New Jersey is known for aviation innovation. The testimony received by the Task Force on February 23rd will highlight the potential assets of the region. This potential paired with New Jersey-based economic incentives could position New Jersey to serve as a...

The Power of New York’s Borrowing Statute

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Posted in General Litigation

On February 15, 2017

On October 11, 2016, the Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division, First Department, decided 2138747 Ontario, Inc. v. Samsung C&T Corp., et al., which serves as a reminder to attorneys that New York’s borrowing statute applies even where the parties agreed to a New York choice-of-law provision. The borrowing statute, CPLR 202, provides that, when a non-New York resident sues on a cause of action accruing outside New York, the complaint must be filed timely under the statute of limitations of both New York and the jurisdiction where the cause of action accrued. The statute’s underlying objective is to prevent forum shopping by nonresident plaintiffs. In Ontario, the plaintiff, a corporation formed under the law of Ontario, Canada, was a creditor of SkyPower Corporation, a bankrupt Canadian renewable energy developer. SkyPower’s bankruptcy trustee assigned to the plaintiff all of its claims against the defendants. The plaintiff then sought damages against the defendants for a breach of a nondisclosure and confidentiality agreement (NDA), which contained a broad New York choice-of-law provision. The plaintiff’s complaint was untimely under Ontario’s two-year statute of limitations but was timely under New York’s six-year statute of limitations. The trial court found that Ontario’s two-year statute of limitations applied and dismissed the case. The Appellate Division affirmed. Although the court found...

Latest Technology Survey of Lawyers Reveals Troubling Trends

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Posted in Technology Developments and Issues

On February 8, 2017

Recently, the American Bar Association released its annual technology survey, a comprehensive report that explores how attorneys are using technology. It revealed some troubling trends. The finding of most concern is that nearly half of the respondents indicated their belief that they were not ethically required to stay apprised of legal technology developments, or that they were unclear regarding their ethical duties. In fact, the ABA formally approved a change to Rule 1.1 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct in 2012 that clarified that a lawyer’s ethical duty of competence requires knowledge of technology related to their practice. Since that time, approximately half of the states have adopted the revised rule, which provides: “Maintaining Competence To maintain the requisite knowledge and skill, a lawyer should keep abreast of changes in the law and its practice, including the benefits and risks associated with relevant technology, engage in continuing study and education and comply with all continuing legal education requirements to which the lawyer is subject.” Indeed, an attorney’s lack of familiarity with relevant technology may subject him/her to sanctions and ethical violations, even in a state that has not adopted the revised ABA Rule. For example, California’s Professional Responsibility Committee opined that an attorney’s e-discovery ignorance, which resulted in the deletion of relevant data and the...

Executive Order Spells Uncertainty for Pending EPA Rules

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On February 8, 2017

On January 30, 2017, as promised during his campaign, President Trump signed an executive order requiring federal agencies to identify two regulations to be repealed for every new regulation that is created. The order comes on the heels of a January 20, 2017 memorandum from White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus directing agency heads to freeze new or pending regulations including those that had been finalized but not yet published in the Federal Register. The “one in, two out” rule and regulatory freeze spell uncertainty for regulations currently in the pipeline for adoption by the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”), including the proposed financial assurances rules for the hardrock mining industry we have previously covered here. Other impacted EPA rule proposals include a stormwater general permit designed to reduce polluted runoff from construction sites and a rule which would include vapor intrusion as a method of evaluating contamination levels at potential Superfund sites. At present, it is unclear how the administration’s actions will ultimately impact any pending EPA regulations (or those of other federal agencies). The environmental attorneys at Gibbons P.C. will be closely monitoring any further executive action impacting proposed EPA rules and report on any important developments.

David Freeman to Speak at New York City Brownfield Partnership Seminar

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Posted in Development/Redevelopment / Environmental and Green Issues

On February 1, 2017

David J. Freeman, a Director in the Gibbons Environmental Department and Co-Chair of the Brownfields Task Force of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, will speak at an upcoming seminar on “New York State’s Brownfield Cleanup Program: What to Look for in 2017.” The seminar is sponsored by the New York City Brownfield Partnership and will take place on February 7 from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. Mr. Freeman and other panel members will review the major changes to the Program made by the 2015 amendments to the state’s Brownfield Cleanup Act, including the new definition of “brownfield site”; new deadlines for admission to the Program and for issuance of Certificates of Completion; new rules and DEC procedures with respect to costs that qualify for site preparation tax credits; and restrictions on tangible property credits for properties in New York City, including DEC’s new definition of an “underutilized” site.

Governor Signs Off on Amendments to New Jersey’s Electronic Waste Management Act

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On January 27, 2017

On January 9, 2017, Governor Christie signed into law a bill aimed at fortifying New Jersey’s existing Electronic Waste Management Act, by ensuring that manufactures of certain consumer electronics shoulder the burden for recycling all such devices actually collected in the state during a calendar year. While this new law is technically a recast of the existing statutory scheme, the changes it affects are, in many ways, transformative. This blog provides a broad description of the previous law, the apparent conditions which prompted its revision, and the key innovations of the new law.

EPA Proposes First Financial Assurances Rule

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Posted in Environmental and Green Issues

On January 4, 2017

On December 1, 2016, following decades of inaction and a court order establishing a deadline by which the proposed rule was to be released, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it would publish a proposed rule regulating financial assurances required for parties conducting remediation projects in the hardrock mining industry. Section 108(b) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”) directed EPA to develop rules requiring “that classes of facilities establish and maintain evidence of financial responsibility consistent with the degree and duration of risk associated with the production, transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes.” 42 U.S.C. 9608(b)(1). Although these rules were required to be promulgated by 1985, EPA never published any rules, which led to a deadline of December 1, 2016 being set by court order in response to a lawsuit complaining that EPA failed to comply with the statute. See In re Idaho Conservation League, 811 F.3d 502 (D.C. Cir. 2016). In the absence of such rules, EPA required financial assurance through negotiated settlements, orders, and guidance.

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