The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision holding that environmental groups could bring False Claims Act (FCA) claims against contractors at a Superfund site in Arkansas. In a qui tam action brought on behalf of the United States, environmental groups allege that the c...

The court holds that the political question doctrine does not bar a federal court from resolving landowners' suits alleging that a state-managed fish pass significantly contributed to beach erosion on their property. The court first holds that the landowners' claims for injunctive relief and damages...

The court holds that a district court erred in ruling that Florida is entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity in a limitation of liability proceeding, but it correctly dismissed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and Florida Pollution Discharge Prevention Act claims brought against the owners of th...

The court holds that a settlement agreement between a state solid waste authority and a private waste disposal company does not violate the Sherman Act or the federal Commerce Clause. The agreement requires both the state authority and the company to respect one another's municipal contracts by reje...

The court holds that an environmental group is not entitled to a preliminary injunction suspending a proposed retail development's construction permit and ordering the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) addressing the development's impact on flooding. The...

The court upholds the decision of a land use board that remanded a county's decision to allow a city-run wastewater treatment plant to operate on land zoned for exclusive farm use (EFU). The county approved the use as one that is permitted outright on land zoned for EFU. The court first holds that c...

The court holds that property owners operated two illegal junkyards in violation of a city's zoning laws and that such operation constituted a nuisance. The city planning commission determined that the properties were nuisances, and the commission's decision to uphold the city's cease and desist ord...

The U.S. Supreme Court holds that a Native American tribe's and U.S. claims to additional water rights from the Colorado River are not precluded by a previous Court decision or by a 1983 consent decree entered into by the United States and the tribe. The tribe's and the government's present claims a...

The Ninth Circuit held that a 2007 voter-approved initiative that overturned a 2004 initiative giving property owners relief from development restrictions under Oregon land-use laws, or payment for the lost value of their land, did not violate the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Waivers gr...

The court affirms a district court decision that municipal liens placed on individuals' property did not constitute a taking or violate the individuals' due process rights. In 1992, and again in 1993, a town imposed municipal liens on the property for municipal improvement. In 1999, the individuals ...