The Eighth Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing on jurisdictional grounds environmental groups' claims that FEMA's approval of a levee violated the National Flood Insurance Act (NFIA) and the APA. In essence, the groups were challenging FEMA's flood elevation determination. Accordingly, ...

The Fifth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision remanding to state court residents' class action lawsuit against a chemical company in connection with a chemical release at one of its facilities. The Class Action Fairness Act authorizes federal jurisdiction over class actions where, among other th...

The Vermont Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision dismissing the state's attempt to hold prior and past owners liable for its costs of responding to and cleaning up a hazardous waste contamination site. The state failed to demonstrate that the trial court erred in dismissing its common law p...

A district court held that a research institute must turn over documents relating to its methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) study to one of the plaintiffs in a consolidated multi-district case against several gasoline companies for groundwater contamination stemming from their use of MTBE in gasolin...

A district court held that response costs a Canadian zinc producer incurred pursuant to a settlement agreement with EPA constitute "damages" under its insurance policies. Although the remedial investigation and feasibility study (RI/FS) is not being conducted pursuant to an order from EPA, it is non...

A district court dismissed all but one of the United States' CERCLA claims against several companies for response costs incurred at a hazardous waste site in Rialto, California. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 13(a), the United States should have asserted the claims in a prior 2005 action beca...

A district court held that under Illinois law, an insurer has a duty to defend the former owner of the South Green Plating Superfund site in Chicago, Illinois, in an underlying CERCLA case concerning the reimbursement of U.S. response costs incurred at the site. The government's underlying allegatio...

The Sixth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision rejecting claims that several city ordinances aimed at controlling deer populations violate the U.S. and Kentucky Constitutions and are preempted by state statutes and administrative regulations. The lower court erred in ...

A New Jersey appellate court held that liability under the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act is not imposed if a party's only link to the discharge is through the passive migration of pre-existing contamination. Accordingly, the court affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a property...

A district court upheld a "Clean Air Action Plan" adopted by a California port designed, among other things, to reduce emissions related to port operations, including emissions from heavily polluting trucks. A trucking association argued that the program was preempted by the Federal Aviation Adminis...