A district court held that a plaintiff's failure to join a city in its action against intermediate owners of a cast aluminum manufacturing facility did not warrant dismissal of the case. Upon learning of environmental contamination of the facility, the city acquired the facility and ordered the past...

A district court held that an insurance company has no duty to defend or indemnify a metal scrap company for any liability it incurs in connection with the Omaha Lead Superfund site. The insurance policy contains a pollution exclusion clause, but the exclusion does not apply to discharges that are s...

A Georgia appellate court held that a trial court erred in holding that an individual's claim of carbon (CO) monoxide poisoning against her landlord was not excluded from coverage under the landlord's commercial general liability policy. The policy at issue excludes coverage for damages resulting fr...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurance company in a case involving several personal injury actions arising from the operation of an oil and gas production facility next to Beverly Hills High School. The complaints allege that hazardou...

A California appellate court upheld a city's approval of changes in a plan for a large real estate development project in downtown Los Angeles. Rival developers argued that the modified project is so different as to constitute a new project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). They...

The Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court decision denying Tennessee's motion to clarify its obligations under a 1985 consent decree regarding its plans to improve a stream. The state wanted to transform 1.5 miles of the stream into a 2.4-mile "meandering channel" to mimic the natural co...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that the Clean Air Act (CAA) does not preempt certain provisions of local "fleet rules" requiring operators to meet specified emission standards or engine requirements, but reversed and remanded the court's refusal to consider whether the CAA preempt...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part lower court rulings in an action initially brought by over 2,000 residents against the operators of the Hanford Nuclear Weapons Reservation in southeastern Washington claiming that emissions from the facility caused various cancers and other li...

A California appellate court upheld water quality orders issued by a regional water board requiring a county to establish limitations for coliform effluent in groundwater underlying a county-operated, youth correctional facility wastewater treatment plant. The county argued that the board misapplied...

A district court held that a county ordinance that bans the land application of "Los Angeles sludge" in the unincorporated areas of the county violates the Commerce Clause. The city of Los Angeles generates a large amount of sewage treatment residues, some substantial portion of which it would shi...