A district court held that San Francisco and Oakland, California, may not remove back to state court their climate change public nuisance actions against several oil companies. The defendants—the largest cumulative producers of fossil fuels worldwide—timely invoked federal common law as a ground...

The Ninth Circuit held that NOAA did not go beyond its authority when it took climate change into account when considering the ESA status of the Arctic ringed seal. In 2012, NOAA listed the Arctic ringed seal as threatened based on projected sea ice loss. Oil and gas companies challenged the ruling,...

A district court held that EPA's year-long delay in implementing formaldehyde emission standards for domestically manufactured and imported composite wood products violated the Formaldehyde Standards in Composite Wood Products Act. The Act required EPA to issue implementing regulations no later than...

The Tenth Circuit ruled that an Oklahoma citizen has no claim against an oil company on allegations that his cancer was caused by decades of breathing benzene fumes from its oil refinery near his home. In 2011, the man was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. In 2016, he brought suit against the oil com...

The First Circuit held that a pesticide company is not liable for cleaning up PCB-laden caulk installed in a Massachusetts middle school in the 1960s. Before August 1970, the pesticide company sold PCB mixtures to formulators of building materials, who then incorporated them into various end product...

A California appellate court held that three paint companies will have to reimburse the state for the cost of stripping lead paint from the interior of thousands of houses in San Francisco and nine other cities and counties. The state claimed the companies sold and advertised lead paint for resident...