The court holds that the insurers of a local sewage authority are not required to defend the authority against claims brought by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under §122 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in connection with the aut...

The court holds that Nevada's state engineer improperly denied the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) applications for state water appropriation permits that would allow livestock to be watered on public lands in Douglas County, Nevada. The state regulation at issue allows the state engineer to iss...

The court holds that a Native American tribal court was not created in accordance with federally mandated procedures, that the illegitimately formed tribal court could not exercise jurisdiction over a tribal oil and gas lease dispute, that oil companies, therefore, were not required to exhaust their...

The court upholds a district court decision denying environmental groups the right to intervene in a suit concerning the listing of the Atlantic salmon as an endangered species. In 1999, the groups sued the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), challe...

The court holds that two Michigan state legislators lack standing to challenge the Secretary of the Interior's approval of gaming compacts between the state of Michigan and four Native American tribes. The legislators—one a member of the state house, and the other a member of the state senate—cl...

The court holds that the take provision of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), as applied to landowners, does not violate the U.S. Commerce Clause. After purchasing property, the landowners sought to develop it, but were prevented from doing so because of the restrictions placed on the land under the ...

The court affirmed a district court holding that pollution exclusion clauses in two comprehensive general liability policies issued by an insurer to an Oregon lumber company precluded the insurer's duty to defend the company from a nuisance action brought by the company's neighbors. The neighbors al...

The court holds that the Endangered Species Act's (ESA's) application to private lands in order to protect an endangered species that lives entirely within one state does not violate the U.S. Commerce Clause. The court first holds that the regulated activity in question—construction of a housing d...

The court affirms a trial court's exclusion of the testimony in an eminent domain case of a property owner's expert as to the value of the property if it was operated as a landfill. A city initiated an eminent domain action over the property, and during property valuation the owner sought to introdu...

The court affirms the dismissal of property owners' claim that a consulting firm negligently announced that land neighboring the owner's property was suitable as a potential landfill site even though the land was farmland and, thus, could not be used for a landfill. The landowners claimed that this ...