Arkansas Game & Fish Commission v. United States
The U.S. Supreme Court held that government-induced flooding that is temporary in duration may constitute a takings and is not automatically exempt from Takings Clause inspection. The case arose after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extended flooding from a dam into the Dave Donaldson Black River W...
National Solid Wastes Management Ass'n v. City of Dallas
A district court enjoined a county from enforcing a solid waste flow control ordinance that, among other things, requires all waste collected in the city to be disposed of at a city landfill. The city had entered into franchise contracts with a number of haulers that allowed them to dispose of waste...
Pioneer Aggregates, Inc. v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
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...
Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp.
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...
W.M. Barr & Co. v. South Coast Air Quality Management Dist.
A California appellate court upheld a local air district rule that requires manufacturers of consumer paint thinner and solvent products to limit the use of ozone-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their products. The district issued to rule to satisfy its federal CAA commitments. A pa...
American Coatings Ass'n v. South Coast Air Quality District,
The California Supreme Court upheld an air district's technology-forcing rules that limit certain pollution-causing substances in paints and coatings. A paint association argued that the air district failed to show that technology necessary to meet the emissions limits set by the 2002 amendments...
Kaahumanu v. Hawaii
The Ninth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of Hawaii's regulation of commercial weddings on the state's unencumbered beaches in all respects but one. A pastor and wedding planning companies filed suit against the state's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) alleging that its permit re...