Barry Hyman
Partner
Chicago
312.258.5721
E-mail

Sherry A. Quirk
Partner
Washington
202.778.6475
E-mail

Energy Litigation

Schiff Hardin has a national energy litigation practice and has substantial expertise representing energy companies in state and federal courts and in arbitration and mediation proceedings, and before Federal and State regualatory commissions.

Our firm has been involved in a variety of litigation matters for energy companies, including:

• Commercial and contract litigation
• Securities/commodities, antitrust, and government enforcement matters
• Corporate governance matters
• Construction litigation
• Environmental litigation and toxic tort proceedings
• Bankruptcy and creditors' rights litigation.
• ERISA
• Trade secrets

We also have expertise in various types of alternative dispute resolution (ADR).

In recognition of the fact that litigation can be very expensive, time consuming and a drain on a company's resources, we have developed core expertise in alternative dispute resolution.

Our firm is a sustaining member of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR Institute) — one of the premier mediation and alternative dispute resolution organizations in the country. One of our partners is a member of the CPR Institute's Energy, Oil & Gas Committee.

On behalf of our clients, we regularly mediate and arbitrate acquisition and contract disputes before accounting firms, the CPR Institute, the American Arbitration Association (of which we are a sustaining member) and other arbitration organizations, such as JAMS/Endispute.

Schiff Hardin has litigated substantial, multi-million dollar commercial and contract cases for:

• Electric power marketing contracts
• Breach of open access transmission tariffs
• Breach of national gas sales agreements
• Breach of government contracts for disposal of spent nuclear fuel
• Force majeure disputes and similar matters

We are actively defending allegations that an energy industry client breached its obligations under a contract to divest certain gas exploration and production assets, and we have negotiated resolution of disputes arising from the construction of a merchant cogeneration plant in an effort to avoid contested proceedings.

Regulatory Proceedings

Schiff Hardin's attorneys represent clients in contested proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Department of Energy, and state commissions, in all aspects of electric power and natural gas regulation, including:

• Investor-owned utilities
• Municipal utilities
• Transmission owners
• Reliability Organizations
• Electric generators
• Public utility commissions
• Other electric market participants
• Natural gas producers, marketers and pipelines

We have long-standing experience representing our energy industry clients in disputes arising from alleged breaches of fuel procurement agreements, including coal and rail contracts. In light of bottlenecks for rail lines running from Wyoming, and resulting dislocations in the marketplace, our expertise in these matters may be of increasing importance to our energy industry clients.

We regularly represent clients before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC),and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Our clients include corporations, partnerships, directors, officers, and other parties in class, derivative, and other litigation involving charges of fraud, inadequate disclosure, and breach of fiduciary duty under securities laws and regulations. Our antitrust litigators have represented energy industry clients against claims under the Sherman Act and the Robinson-Patman price discrimination statutes in connection with false price reporting matters in the natural gas industry.

Our class action attorneys have defended our corporate clients in class action cases in both state and federal courts throughout the United States. Our experience includes:

• Removing alleged class actions from state to federal courts
• Defending against numerous class certification motions
• Extended evidentiary hearings on class certification motions
• Extensive briefing and oral arguments on class certification issues
• Dispositive motion practice directed against the claims of named plaintiffs and class members
• Extensive discovery
• Negotiation and administration of class action settlements — both statewide and nationwide in scope
• Trial of class action matters

We also have substantial appellate experience on class certification matters.

We have a substantial white collar criminal and corporate compliance practice. Our firm defends clients in grand jury investigations and in criminal and contested administrative proceedings involving:

• Federal and state antitrust and trade regulation laws
• Environmental protection law statutes
• Employment law statutes
• Department of Health and Human services "fraud and abuse" investigations
• Bank and tax fraud
• Commodities, securities, and other business-related governmental investigations

We have assisted business management and special committees of directors and corporate legal staff in conducting internal investigations and identifying and monitoring areas of potential criminal exposure. We continue to assist management in the development of compliance programs now mandated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

We have extensive experience mediating, arbitrating and litigating construction disputes arising from power plant construction, maintenance and repair, including:

• Design professional and contractor contract disputes
• Delay and loss of efficiency claims
• Breach of performance and payment clauses
• Construction and structural failure disputes

We served as lead trial counsel in the New Source Review environmental enforcement actions filed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against a power plant and have recently been involved in contested disputes involving creosote on utility poles and alleged fly ash contamination of water resources. We also have a leading national practice in the defense of asbestos claims for an array of Fortune 500 clients.