Kean Miller is pleased to announce the relocation of its downtown Baton Rouge headquarters from One American Place to 80,000+ square feet of re-imagined law office space in II City Plaza effective today, Monday, January 10, 2011. II City Plaza is the only Class A office space constructed in Baton Rouge in the last 25 years.…

When drafting a settlement agreement, the parties almost always have competing interests. The Plaintiff will push for a vaguely-worded settlement in an attempt to take another “bite-at-the-apple” down the road; the Defendant will push for a broad, all-encompassing release of liability (i.e., “any and all claims”) in an attempt to “close-the-books” on the Plaintiff’s claims.…

The recent tragedy involving the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Deepwater Horizon has shed a very bright and very public light on a much and often litigated 159-year old law previously known to very few outside of the maritime industry—the Shipowner’s Limitation of Liability Act, (“the Limitation Act”), 46 U.S.C. § 30505 (formerly 46 U.S.C. §…

Does a tenant’s failure to expressly assume a commercial lease within 120 days of filing bankruptcy give its landlord the right to immediate possession of the leased premises? Yes, according to several recent court decisions. The bankrupt tenant’s landlord is entitled to immediate possession of the leased premises, without going through the time and expense…

A spar is a nautical structure designed to float with the bulk of the hull below the waves-something akin to a giant buoy. Fields v. Pool Offshore, Inc., 182 F.3d 353(5th Cir. 1999). Spars are essential to the expansion of oil production in deep water and their use has led to the legal question of…

New major and modified existing stationary sources require air permits prior to beginning construction. Where increases of criteria pollutants  such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate and volatile organic compounds exceed a “significance” threshold, the permittee is required to analyze available and technically feasible control technology with the goal of selecting the best available control…

Employers are struggling with how to respond to employee use of social media, particularly whether and/or how to respond to – or prevent – employees from posting comments about their employers on their personal social networking platforms, such as Facebook, My Space, and Twitter.  Until recently, there has been little guidance for employers in navigating…