The Supreme Court of Florida affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision validating $650 million in "certificates of participation" to finance a water district's purchase of 73,000 acres of land owned by a sugar company for Everglades restoration purposes. Certificates of pa...

The Supreme Court of Texas, on certification from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, held that Texas does not recognize a "rolling" public beachfront access easement on Galveston's West Beach. Land patents from the Republic of Texas in 1840, affirmed by legislation in the new s...

A district court issued a preliminary injunction ordering genetically modified sugar beet seedlings—called stecklings—that were planted by four seed companies pursuant to permits issued by the USDA to be removed from the ground. Plaintiffs have made a strong showing that they and the environment...

A Wisconsin appellate court held that an insurer has no duty to indemnify a manufacturing company for costs it incurred cleaning up private landowners' property that was part of a larger environmental remediation effort required by the government. The parties previously stipulated that the insurer w...

A Michigan appellate court voided a 10-year-old commercial lease between the landlord and tenant of a gas station because the landlord failed to disclose that the property is, under Michigan law, a "facility" from which hazardous substances were released or disposed. The court reasoned that because ...

A district court denied an energy company's motion to dismiss CERCLA claims filed against it for reimbursement costs incurred by the former owner of a contaminated site, but granted its motion to dismiss the owner's contribution claims under CERCLA §113. The former site owner entered into an admini...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court order denying an environmental group's motion to preliminarily enjoin the U.S. Forest Service from conducting post-wildfire logging in the Plumas National Forest. The group argued that the Forest Service violated the NFMA because it failed to ensure the viabi...

A district court granted in part and denied in part several motions and cross-motions for summary judgment in a cost recovery and contribution action stemming from contamination at a dry cleaning business. The trustee of the property owner's estate filed suit against the former owners and lesse...

A district court held that the U.S. Forest Service's Public Wheeled Motorized Travel Management Decision for the Eldorado National Forest violated the ESA and the National Forest Management Act. The decision designates specific roads and trails within the forest as open to public motor vehicle ...

A district court held that a consent decree settling an electric company's CERCLA liability with EPA and granting it contribution protection against additional CERCLA liability at an industrial site does not provide the company with contribution protection from a defense company's action seeking dam...