A California appellate court held that a water district violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it approved an agreement concerning the operation of a landfill and recycling center. The water district argued that its approval and execution of the agreement did not constitute ap...

A district court dismissed a family's personal injury claims against the U.S. Army for exposing them to carbon tetrachloride while they resided on a former Army base. The discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act deprives the court of subject matter jurisdiction over their clai...

The Fourth Circuit held that the Federal Power Act (FPA) does not grant the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) permitting jurisdiction when a state denies approval of a permit application within one year. Two state utilities commissions and two community interest organizations challenged se...

The Federal Circuit denied the U.S. government's petition to rehear a case requiring the federal government to pay a water district for diverting water to protect endangered steelhead trout. A concurring judge explained that this case, as it was presented on appeal, is one in which a physical, not a...

The Fifth Circuit reversed a lower court decision ruling that homeowners were entitled to the full amount of their insurance policy for severe flood damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina. The homeowners filed suit after they were unsatisfied with the original amount they were paid under their in...

The Sixth Circuit upheld individuals' conviction for impeding a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency investigation at a water treatment facility in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee. The district court did not abuse its discretion by excluding evidence that a witness had been treated for drug use in 1992. N...

A district court held that the corporate successor to various legal entities at a former industrial site is not liable for various environmental cleanup expenses at the site. The city that filed suit against the successor failed to present sufficient evidence to establish that the successor is liabl...

The Supreme Court of California affirmed in part and reversed in part an appellate court decision reversing a trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of excess insurance companies in the state's action to obtain coverage for property damage liability imposed in a federal lawsuit concerning ...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) violated the Washington state Hazardous Waste Management Act (HWMA) in its management of mixed radioactive and hazardous waste, commonly known as TRUM, at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. DOE argued that it no longer has an obligation u...

A California appellate court affirmed a trial court's ruling in favor of tuna companies in a state lawsuit seeking to require the companies to warn pregnant women and women of childbearing age that they are exposed to methylmercury when they consume canned tuna. Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Wat...