The Eleventh Circuit upheld a lower court decision that an insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify a school board in a toxic tort suit. In the underlying case, the school board was being sued for building a school on land once used as a landfill and allowing housing developments to be built near ...

The Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded a lower court injunction requiring the immediate installation of emissions controls at four TVA generating plants in Alabama and Tennessee. TVA is in compliance with the NAAQS, the corresponding SIPs, and the permits that implement them. Because these standar...

The Fifth Circuit held that an insurance company had no obligations to a lead refinery under four environmental impairment liability policies that the insurance company's predecessor in interest had sold to the refinery years earlier. The policies contained an "other insurance" clause that deprived ...

The D.C. Circuit denied environmental organizations' petitions for declaratory and injunctive relief arguing that the BLM's record of decision, accompanying EIS, and subsequent drilling permits for a natural gas field in south-central Wyoming violated NEPA, FLPMA, and the APA. The project was design...

The Tenth Circuit reversed a lower court's dismissal of a False Claims Act action brought against a government contractor by one of its former employees alleging that the contractor falsely represented to the government that it had fulfilled its hazardous and radioactive waste disposal obligations a...

A Connecticut appellate court upheld a local wetlands commission decision denying a developer's application to construct 221 residential housing units, a golf course, a roadway network, associated structures, and infrastructure improvements on a 934-acre piece of property. The land contains 114.5 ac...

The D.C. Circuit denied an environmental group's motion to preliminarily enjoin federal tax credits granted to an energy company for using "clean coal" technology at a new power plant. An injunction suspending the allocation of the tax credit will not prevent the company from moving forward with its...

A California appellate court held that environmental groups were not entitled to attorneys fees in an underlying suit challenging the state forestry departments' approval of three timber harvest plans for logging in Tuolumne County. The groups argued that the department had not followed the law in a...

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...