In October 2024, the Indiana Supreme Court held that property owners cannot recover damages for traffic flow reduction to their property caused by roadway projects if the project leaves the property’s access points unchanged because no taking of a property right would occur.[1] As part of new I-69 construction, the state in 2019 sought to purchase a narrow strip of…
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has initiated an investigation to determine whether distributed energy resource (“DER”) aggregators are “public utilities” under Indiana law.[1] FERC Order 2222 gave DERs the right to participate in wholesale energy markets through aggregators and required regional transmission organizations such as MISO and PJM to file tariff changes to facilitate participation by DER aggregators. Over the…
Increasingly, insurance companies are denying claims for loss and damage to homes and commercial structures on the basis of reports obtained from engineers during the course of adjusting the claim. In a typical scenario, a homeowner discovers that their roof has been damaged by a storm and reports a claim to their insurance company. The insurance company may send one…
On February 21, 2023, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed an Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (“Commission”) order granting Duke Energy Indiana (“Duke”) recovery of costs pursuant to federal Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) rules for treating coal ash and remediating ash ponds because the Commission had not yet approved the project, which constituted impermissible retroactive ratemaking. The central issue before the…
On June 28, 2023, the Indiana Supreme Court clarified the meaning of the word “invest” in the context of a contract between a public school corporation and a private company regarding the development and operation of a wind turbine project. The contract obligated the school to make payments over a 20-year period totaling nearly $1.6 million. In exchange, the school…
On February 14, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld an order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Commission”) granting Broadview Solar, LLC’s (“Broadview”) application for its Montana facility to be a qualifying facility under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”), holding that FERC’s interpretation of 16 U.S.C. § 796(17)(A) was…
Recently, the Indiana Court of Appeals decided whether a couple was truly aggrieved, which is a required condition to petition for judicial review of a zoning decision, when they lost their view of Lake Michigan. The Shinalls own a hilltop property with a view of Lake Michigan visible over the roof of the Tarpos’ current home. The Odgen Dunes Zoning…
On March 24, 2023, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that § 254 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the “Act”) did not violate the nondelegation doctrine or the private nondelegation doctrine, denying the Petitioners challenge to Congress’s delegation of administering the Universal Service Fund (“USF”) to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) and the FCC’s reliance on a private…
The property damage and injury attorneys at Parr Richey are continuing to monitor the aftermath of the devastating fire at the plastics recycling facility in Richmond, Indiana that started on April 11, 2023 and continued for an extended period of time to cause large volumes of toxic, hazardous materials to spew into the air.
The February 3, 2023 catastrophic derailment of a Norfolk Southern freight train at East Palestine Ohio is a prime example of the need to properly characterize and declare hazardous materials for shipment. When accidents happen during transportation, first responders and affected citizens have an urgent need – and a statutory right – to know what chemicals were involved, what emergency…