A California appellate court reversed in part a lower court decision granting a petition to vacate an irrigation district's approval of an agreement to provide water to a casino on tribal land. In approving the agreement, the irrigation district determined that the agreement was not subject to certa...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying an environmental group attorney fees after it successfully challenged BLM's post-fire grazing decisions and authorizations in the Jarbridge Resource Area in Idaho. In 2004, an environmental group filed suit against BLM challenging its renewal...

A district court dismissed a quarry operator's lawsuit against the state environmental agency for violating its constitutional rights when it denied the operator's application to use certain fill material at a reclamation site. The state denied the application because the fill to be used at the site...

The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed a lower court decision dismissing the state environmental agency's contribution action against a dry cleaner under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act to recover costs incurred in investigating and remediating PCE-contaminated groundwater. The a...

The Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court decision denying an environmental group's motion to intervene in a takings suit filed by property owners claiming that the government's releases of water from a dam in central California unlawfully impaired their property rights in the water and inundated t...

The Fifth Circuit withdrew its prior ruling and held that the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) shields the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from liability for flood damage stemming from Hurricane Katrina. Plaintiffs argued that the Corps should be held liable for th...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing an Eskimo village's nuisance claim against multiple oil, energy, and utility companies for their alleged contribution to climate change. The village claimed that the companies are responsible for a substantial portion of the greenhouse gas...

A district court held that 15 community members of Corpus Christi, Texas, are victims under the Crime Victims Rights Act (CVRA) for environmental crimes committed by a petroleum refining company. The company was convicted of two counts of criminally violating the CAA at its refinery. The court previ...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision dismissing environmental groups' lawsuit against a city for violating the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in connection with its approval of a company's proposal to build a large distribution facility. The city filed a notice o...

The Third Circuit upheld the conviction of a pipe foundry company and four of its employees for various environmental crimes, including conspiring to commit environmental pollution and worker safety violations, attempting to cover up or impede federal investigation of those violations, and substanti...