A court orders a lower court to grant a county's motion to dismiss on ripeness grounds an inverse condemnation action brought by a land developer. The developer argued that a land use regulation, as applied to its property, constituted a taking under the federal and California Constitutions. The cou...

The court upholds the denial of a company's request for attorneys fees stemming from an unsuccessful U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) action against it for discharging dredge and fill material into wetlands without a permit. An administrative law judge initially held that the company viola...

The court holds that the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's actions in response to an outbreak of avian influenza did not deprive a poultry farmer of his property in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case arose after three flocks of the farmer's chickens were suspected of having avian...

A court held that a city's approval of an environmental impact report (EIR) for a proposed industrial/business park violated the California Environmental Quality Act. Although no other defects were found, the EIR did not sufficiently discuss the adequacy of water supplies for the project. Certain wa...

A court reverses the state transportation agency's approval of an environmental impact report (EIR) for a proposed freeway interchange project in connection with a proposed hotel and casino complex on Native American lands and remanded the EIR for additional analysis. By analyzing the project's traf...

A court denies individuals' motions for attorneys fees and costs they spent defending a Clean Water Act action the United States filed against them. They argued that they were entitled to reimbursement because the United States ultimately dismissed its case. The individuals are correct that the lack...

A court dismisses a company's claims against the prior owners of its property for failing to remove drums, titanium grindings, and other metals from the site pursuant to a purchase agreement. The company also argued that the prior owners violated a state court order, issued in conjunction with a set...

The court holds that although a Native American tribe may change the use of their water rights established under a 1944 federal court decree from irrigation use to instream use, it may not apply the transportation loss portion of those rights to the new use. The decree provides that the amount alloc...

The court dismisses a petition challenging a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule allowing the director of an approved state landfill to grant variances from EPA criteria for sanitary landfills. The environmental group challenging the rule lacks associational standing because none of its ...

A court holds that California Penal Code 653o, which bans the import of products made from certain animals, including kangaroos, into California is preempted by federal law and by general federal objectives of kangaroo conservation. The statute as applied in this case conflicts with federal law and ...