Weekly Cases Update Volume 41, Issue 7

The cases listed below appear in the most recent issue of ELR's Weekly Update. For cases previously reported, please use the filter on the left.

Volume 41, Issue 15

ELR 20186No. 10-1738(1st Cir., )

The First Circuit held that property owners have standing to challenge a settlement agreement entered into between a town and a telecommunications company over the construction of a 100-foot cell phone tower.

Keywords:
Economic interests
ELR 20184No. 09-4572(6th Cir., )

The Sixth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision excluding expert witness testimony in homeowners' toxic tort case against an oil company for benzene exposure. The homeowners alleged claims of strict liability for hazardous activity, negligence, and loss of consortium.

Keywords:
Evidentiary standards
ELR 20177No. 10-1744(3d Cir., )

The Third Circuit held that a property owner's nuisance, negligence, and strict liability claims against a neighboring landfill are not continuing torts and, thus, are barred by the statute of limitations.

Keywords:
Negligence, Strict liability
ELR 20178No. 07-35266(9th Cir., )

The Ninth Circuit, in an amended opinion, held that stormwater runoff from logging roads that is collected by and then discharged from a system of ditches, culverts, and channels is a point source discharge for which an NPDES permit is required.

Keywords:
"Point source" construed, Coverage
ELR 20180No. 08-CV-13503(E.D. Mich. , )

A district court, on motions for reconsideration and for leave to amend counterclaims, held that a gas company may seek recovery costs under CERCLA and the Michigan Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act against the plaintiffs in the case.

Keywords:
Amendment of pleadings, FRCP 15, Contribution
ELR 20181No. 11-6042-HO(D. Or., )

A district court dismissed an oil refiner's CERCLA action against a recycling company for costs it incurred responding to PCB contamination allegedly resulting from used oil that was delivered from the company's facility to the refinery.

Keywords:
"Release" construed
ELR 20188No. 4:10CV01895(E.D. Mo., )

A district court held that a property owner that filed a RCRA, CAA, and CWA citizen suit against a mine may not intervene in the United States' and Missouri's enforcement action against the same mine for the same violations.

Keywords:
Legally protectable interest
ELR 20182No. 06-CV-6333(W.D.N.Y. , )

A district court dismissed a property owner's negligence and mutual mistake claims against the former owner, as well as its request to rescind the purchase agreement, due to contamination.

Keywords:
Duty to disclose
ELR 20185No. 10-11890(Bankr. D. Del., )

A bankruptcy court held that a property owner's CERCLA and state environmental law claims against the prior property owner are not "core" claims and, thus, fall outside the jurisdiction of the owner's Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

Keywords:
Bankruptcy
ELR 20190No. 09-509562(Sup. Ct. Cal. , )

A California court ordered the California Air Resources Board to set aside its "functional equivalent document" and scoping plan to reduce greenhouse gases as it relates to cap and trade.

Keywords:
Climate Change (generally), California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

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