Sierra Club v. Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
A district court, in a 114-page opinion, held that a regional planning agency violated the California Environmental Quality Act when it approved the expansion of a ski resort near Lake Tahoe. The evidence fails to support the agency's finding that a reduced alternative was not economically infeasibl...
Banning Ranch Conservancy v. Newport Beach, City of
A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a conservation group's petition seeking to vacate a city's certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) for the development of a park. The group argued that the EIR wrongly defined the project to exclude pending residentia...
Olin Corp. v. American Home Assurance Co.
The Second Circuit reversed a lower court decision that an insurance company need not indemnify a manufacturing company for environmental contamination that occurred at one of its facilities in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The insurer issued the company two excess insurance policies that had a $3...
Central Basin Municipal Water District v. Water Replenishment District of Southern California
A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a municipal water district's petition challenging a water replenishment district's "water emergency" declaration for California's Central Basin. The water district argued that the replenishment district failed to comply with the Ca...
Central Coast Forest Ass'n v. California Fish & Game Commission
A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision granting lumber companies' petition to delist coho salmon from the California list of endangered species. The companies' petition sought to show that there was no basis for the California Fish & Game Commission's 1995 finding that coho...