Carmody & Torrance has provided litigation services to utilities and energy companies for nearly a century. Our experience is both broad and deep: we have represented electric, gas, water, and communication utilities and energy companies in thousands of matters before state and federal courts and regulatory agencies, on a wide range of issues including complex commercial disputes, significant personal injury and property damage claims and regulatory and permitting issues and their related land acquisition and construction claims.
Our lawyers have prosecuted and defended claims relating to wholesale power contracts, facilities construction and real estate disputes. We have handled death and serious injury claims involving gas and electric transmission and distribution facilities. We have prosecuted and defended municipal tax appeals, land acquisitions, construction and environmental claims. We regularly represent gas and electric utilities on siting and other regulatory issues.
Our lawyers are uniquely familiar with the issues that utilities and energy companies confront. We maintain an extensive data bank of materials relevant to these industries. We regularly attend seminars on topics of special interest to our clients and provide them with training on industry issues. In short, we have made it our business to learn the business of our clients in the utility and energy industries.
Representative matters include:
- Successfully defended an energy company in a highly complex contract dispute involving a multimillion dollar claim arising out of the wholesale purchase of energy
- Defended an electric utility in several cases involving claims of personal injury or property devaluation by reason of electric and magnetic fields (“EMF”) associated with power transmission and distribution facilities. We prevailed in the defense of two separate brain tumor cases that had been touted nationally as potential landmarks for holding utilities liable for EMF injuries
- Obtained a significant settlement from an insurer in connection with damage to a thermal shield at a nuclear power plant
- Defended numerous claims that seek to extinguish or limit a utility’s property interests, including a claim by a putative Indian tribe that sought to nullify deeds granted to a utility almost 100 years ago. We also successfully defended numerous challenges by property owners to a utility’s exercise of its power of eminent domain in connection with infrastructure projects
- Successfully defended $12.2 million in claims and prevailed on an $8.1 million counterclaim in connection with the construction of the municipality's water treatment plant
- Prevailed on a municipal tax appeal involving the overvaluation of a nuclear power plant
- Obtained a favorable settlement for a contractor in connection with delay claims arising out of the construction of a cogeneration plant
- Represented an electric utility for several decades in defending line contact and similar cases usually involving the loss of life or serious physical injuries