The D.C. Circuit upheld a final order issued by the Department of the Interior (DOI) requiring an energy company to retroactively recalculate royalties owed to the U.S. government under its lease to extract coalbed methane from federal land in Wyoming. In its disputed order, DOI held that the market...

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition to review the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) interpretation of the term "markets" as used in an amendment to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act that created exceptions to a utility's mandatory purchase obligation to buy energy from qualifyi...

The Sixth Circuit held that a group of 300 landowners may not divide their class action nuisance suit against a paper mill into five separate water pollution claims to avoid federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). The landowners divided their suit into five separate suits co...

A California appellate court held that a lower court properly applied the responsible corporate officer doctrine to hold the corporate officers of an entity that owned an underground storage tank personally liable for violations of the state's tank laws governing the underground storage of hazardous...

A California appellate court held that the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) did not abuse its discretion in listing di-isodecyl phthalate (DIDP) as a chemical known to cause reproductive toxicity under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, commonly known ...

A California appellate court held that the resident of an apartment complex that failed to limit secondhand smoke in outdoor common areas sufficiently pled a cause of action for public nuisance. The complex, by failing to act, created a condition that was harmful to health or obstructed the free use...

A California appellate court affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of an automobile manufacturer that was sued for breach of warranty and deceptive advertising with regard to a hybrid vehicle's fuel efficiency. An individual who purchased the manufa...

A California appellate court held that a trial court erred by limiting the state's insurance coverage for cleanup costs at the Stringfellow hazardous waste site to the policy limits in effect for any one policy period. In California, when there is a continuous loss spanning multiple policy periods, ...

The Fourth Circuit held that the lower court properly dismissed homeowners' Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and state law claims against the former property owner. The homeowners alleged that the house and lot were contaminated by toxic substances. They hired an...

A California appellate court upheld the constitutionality of California Fish and Game Code §8279.1(c), which regulates Dungeness crab fishing. The section states that if the crab season in Oregon or Washington is delayed, no one may fish for crab in Oregon or Washington for 30 days after the se...