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Government Sanctioned for Failure to Preserve Documents

Client Alert | 1 min read | 10.26.12

In United States ex rel. Baker v. Community Health Sys., Inc, No. 05-279-WJ-ACT (D.N.M. Oct. 3, 2012), the U.S. District Court in New Mexico upheld sanctions against the government for failing to preserve electronically stored information in a False Claims Act case, ordering the government to produce certain privileged materials. This case provides valuable reminders that the government's duty to preserve evidence may arise long before it intervenes and that merely issuing a litigation hold is not in and of itself sufficient to satisfy the duty to preserve, but parties also must take diligent steps to implement and monitor compliance with preservation obligations.

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Client Alert | 3 min read | 05.28.26

PFAS Regulatory Alert: EPA Rolls Back RCRA Proposed Rule on “Hazardous Waste” but Does Not Disturb Proposed RCRA Rule on PFAS

Earlier this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) withdrew a February 2024 Biden administration proposed rule, “Definition of Hazardous Waste Applicable to Corrective Action for Releases From Solid Waste Management Units,” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).[1] The withdrawn proposal would have revised RCRA corrective action regulations to expressly apply the broader statutory definition of “hazardous waste,” rather than only the narrower regulatory definition. Now, EPA is maintaining the status quo for corrective action under RCRA. However, EPA’s withdrawal of its proposed RCRA hazardous waste definition makes no mention of its corresponding proposal from 2024 to list nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as RCRA hazardous constituents.[2] This disjointed withdrawal, while providing some certainty for regulated entities, does not resolve how EPA plans to address PFAS under the RCRA program....

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