A California appellate court held that a city violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in approving new commercial development on vacant land. One of the CEQA's two major purposes is to require public agencies to adopt feasible mitigation measures to lessen the environmental impacts ...

A California appellate court upheld the invalidation of a municipal services agreement between a Native American tribe and a city concerning the tribe's plan to build a gaming facility on land it has the option to purchase. The tribe applied to the U.S. Secretary of the Interior to take the land in ...

The Eleventh Circuit held that a district court should have remanded to state court individuals' strict liability claims against a development company for groundwater and surface water contamination. The individuals initially filed their claims in Florida court, but the defendants removed the case t...

The Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of rescue, search, and cleanup workers' substantive due process complaint against federal officials for knowingly issuing false statements about air quality safety in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center. The wor...

The Virginia Supreme Court held that an environmental group has standing to appeal the State Water Control Board's approval of a wastewater discharge permit affecting the James River. The State Water Control Law authorizes representational standing to a corporate person seeking judicial review of a ...

The Ninth Circuit vacated a lower court decision granting in part and denying in part cross-motions for summary judgment in a case concerning the validity of the federal government's policy for listing killer whales under the Endangered Species Act. Since the lower court issued its decision, the Nat...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision denying environmental groups' petition challenging a state agency's decision to allow timberland to be converted to a vineyard under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The agency issued a timber conversion permit to the owner...

A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of a petition challenging a city's decision to adopt a resolution renewing a Central Valley Project water contract with the Bureau of Reclamation. The contract, originally made in 1961, requires the United States to deliver 60,000 acre-feet of Class ...

The Federal Claims Court denied the U.S. government's motion to dismiss property owners' takings claims against it in connection with a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's project along the shore of Lake Michigan. The owners claimed that the Corps' construction and maintenance of jetties from 1950 to 1989...

A California appellate court held that a lower court erred in transferring environmental groups' California Environmental Quality Act claim to another venue. The groups filed suit challenging the certification of an environmental impact report for, and the decision approving the construction of, a t...