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Duke Energy notches early win in $600M coal-ash liability suit

NORTH CAROLINA — A state judge has ruled that insurers failed to prove beyond dispute that Duke Energy Corp. intentionally and knowingly caused millions of dollars worth of environmental damage at its Mayo Steam Plant coal-ash pond.

It is one of four important pre-trial rulings Duke has won from Judge Louis Bledsoe, chief judge in the N.C. Business Court. The rulings come in Duke’s suit to force about two dozen former coal-plant insurers to pay at least $600 million worth of damages for coal-ash leaks at 15 current and former plants in the Carolinas.

All of the rulings involve summary judgement motions, either by the insurers or Duke. Bledsoe is deciding whether the current evidence shows as a matter of law that there is no issue between the two sides in the case.

That means that Bledsoe, in most of these cases, is not determining what the facts of the case would ultimately show. He is simply deciding whether the facts are undisputed and the law is clear. If that’s the case, the court says the issue is already settled.

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