A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a citizen group's lawsuit seeking to vacate a city's approval of a "big box" retail store. The group alleged that the approval violated planning and zoning laws. Their suit, however, is time barred under Cal. Gov. Code §65009(c...

A district court denied the U.S. government's motion to empanel a sentencing jury to determine an oil company's gross pecuniary gain stemming from CAA and Migratory Bird Treaty Act violations. After the company was convicted under both statutes, the government recommended that the court impose a fin...

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a county's lawsuit challenging a Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directive advising Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refrain from purchasing mortgages encumbered with certain first-priority lien obligations under the Property Assesse...

South Carolina's highest court held that the state's environmental agency violated state law when it negotiated an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Georgia Ports Authority before issuing a CWA §401 water quality certificate for a proposed expansion project for Savannah Harbor...

A district court dismissed a landowner's trespass claim against an energy company for waste stemming from natural gas drilling operations on the property. The company owns the mineral rights underlying the land. As part of its drilling operations, the company deposited drilling waste and other mater...

A Texas appellate court held that sovereign immunity bars an individual's lawsuit against the board members of a local reclamation district claiming that their activities caused a lake to be substantially drained during 2008 and for most of the years 2009 through 2011. As a governmental agency and p...