Multidistrict Transfer and Consolidation – WOTUS Cases
Troutman Sanders lawyers Brooks Smith, Justin Wong and Buck Dixon had their article, “Multidistrict Transfer and Consolidation – WOTUS Cases,” published in the Spring 2016 edition of the American Bar Association’s Natural Resources & Environment journal.
In it, the trio discusses legal issues surrounding the recent EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s final rule on the “Definition of ‘Waters of the United States’ Under the Clean Water Act (WOTUS)” and the consolidation of cases challenging it. “Recently, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML or the Panel) found that multiple challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (Corps) final rule on [WOTUS] was not suitable for consolidation,” Brooks, Justin, and Buck stated.
“Although transfer and consolidation can often provide benefits for litigants and the courts, the JPML found the arguments in favor of consolidation of the WOTUS challenges unpersuasive.” The firm serves as counsel to Murray Energy Corporation, which is the lead, named petitioner in the consolidated WOTUS challenges (including 31 states and 54 trade associations) now pending in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.