The Second Circuit, in a summary order, affirmed a lower court decision that an insurance company has no duty to defend a plumbing company in an underlying state suit related to chemical contamination at Love Canal near Niagara Falls, New York. The allegations in the state action fall within the ins...

The Ninth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, held that the United States is not liable under CERCLA for hazardous waste contamination at a former mine site in Idaho. A district court held the owners of the site liable for EPA's and the U.S. Forest Service's cleanup costs at the site, and the owners...

The First Circuit struck down two Puerto Rican municipalities' ban of the disposal of coal ash at landfills within their borders. In 2015, Puerto Rico's Environmental Quality Board (EQB) approved a request from two landfills to receive coal ash from a coal-fired energy plant. Two years prior, the mu...

A district court held that an insurer is not liable for damages in connection with environmental cleanup costs stemming from a biofuel firm's recycling of catfish and other oils. The biofuel firm entered into a fat, oil, and grease recycling agreement (FOG) with a catfish company and rented property...

A district court found that an Indiana Superfund law allows for contribution claims even though the law does not directly reference them. In 2013, a hardware manufacturing company was found liable by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) for releases of hazardous substances on an...