The court holds that application of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) to a commercial housing development that threatened the continued existence of the arroyo southwestern toad, an endangered species, was a constitutional exercise of federal authority under the U.S. Commerce Clause. The court previo...

The court holds that under Texas law, property owners can recover for trespass based on contamination by emission of airborne particulates. The only showing necessary is entry over land by some "thing." In addition, evidence in this case showed actual contamination of the property by the emissions. ...

The court holds that the doctrine of res judicata bars claims stemming from a commercial landfill operator's efforts to win approval for a proposed landfill expansion. After a state court found that county commissioners violated the operator's substantive due process and equal protection rights but ...

The court upholds a district court's approval of a consent decree involving water contamination in the Virgin Islands. The district court's approval of the decree was fair, reasonable, and in the public interest, and it did not err by approving the consent decree without holding a full evidentiary h...

The court holds that a defense contractor that operated the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant in Colorado could recover under its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) legal fees and other costs it incurred in a successful defense against environmental criminal charges brought against it...

The court affirms a lower court decision that an insurer had no duty to defend a scrap metal processing and recycling company in an administrative action brought against it by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources. The company failed to meet its burden of proving the applicability o...

The court holds that a district court improperly admitted expert scientific testimony in an action alleging injuries from exposure to hazardous substances through the operation of a uranium mill. The lower court failed to perform its gatekeeper function with respect to plaintiffs' experts and thereb...

The court rejects a timber company's Declaratory Judgment Act claim against two private environmental groups, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The environmental groups filed a notice of intent to sue the FWS and the NMFS under the Endangered...

The court holds that a lower court erred in upholding a local ordinance that provided an exclusive garbage collection and hauling franchise to a sanitation company. A competing company filed suit against the city after one of its employees was arrested for violating the ordinance. The court first ho...

The court holds that a local air quality management district is immune from a rancher's negligence claim against it for miscalculating the amount of marketable pollution credits the ranch earned for reducing agricultural burning. The district mistakenly issued the ranch 470 tons of credits more than...