A district court held that a company may go forward with its RCRA claim against the former owner, but not the current owner, of adjacent property for groundwater contamination. The complaint contains sufficient factual allegations supporting the company's claim that the former owner of the neigh...

A district court held that a Canadian mining company, if found liable under CERCLA, will be subject to joint and several liability for response costs incurred by the state of Washington and a Native American tribe along a portion of the Upper Columbia River. In this case, the harm is the entiret...

The Federal Circuit reversed in part a lower court's award of damages in favor of an energy company in a case involving the government's breach of its commitment to dispose of spent nuclear fuel. The court reversed the award of damages relating to the costs of operating a spent fuel pool after t...

A district court held that a property owner is not entitled to attorney fees from the U.S. government in an underlying case in which the government was found liable under RCRA for trichloroethylene contamination at the site. The lower court held that the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force were liable as...

A New Jersey appellate court held that two defendants in a state environmental cleanup suit may seek contribution from numerous third parties under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act. The state's environmental agency filed environmental cleanup suits against nine business entities...

A North Carolina appellate court held that a state statute that places limitations on the size and location of solid waste landfills does not violate the Commerce Clause by discriminating against out-of-state waste. It is undisputed that the statute, N.C. Gen. Stat. §130A-295.6 (2011), does not fac...

A district court held that a property owner may go forward with its RCRA claims against neighboring property owners for groundwater and soil contamination, but it dismissed the owner's CERCLA claim against a water district that operated a sewer line between the two properties. The owner adequate...

A district court dismissed an insurance company's CERCLA claim against a tree nursery to recover response costs incurred by firefighters responding to a fire. The fire involved chlorine, a hazardous substance, and the company asserted that its insureds--two fire companies—"removed" and "remediated...

The Eleventh Circuit held that parties subject to a consent decree may not file claims for cost recovery under §107(a) of CERCLA and that their remedies are limited to filing claims for contribution under CERCLA §113(f). If a party subject to a consent decree could simply repackage its §113(f...

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. The claim fails because there has been no release or thre...