The Court reverses the Federal Circuit and holds that the United States breached its contracts with two oil companies when, acting under the Outer Banks Protection Act (OBPA), it delayed approval of the companies' exploration plan. The companies paid the government $158 million in return for contrac...

The court holds that a county in Missouri can regulate the location of solid waste facilities. A development company challenged a county regulation that prohibits the location of a sanitary landfill within one-quarter mile of any occupied dwelling. A trial court denied the company's motion for summa...

The court holds on motions for summary judgment that a manufacturer and a newspaper company are liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for allowing a landowner to dispose of their waste on his property without a permit. The court first holds t...

The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers properly granted a riverboat casino operator a Clean Water Act (CWA) and Rivers and Harbors Appropriations Act permit to construct and operate a riverboat gambling facility on the Ohio River in Indiana. The court first holds that the Corps proper...

The court holds that a municipal regulation prohibiting billboards on rooftops did not effect a taking of an outdoor advertiser's interest in its rooftop signs. The regulation, enacted in 1975, prohibited rooftop billboards after 1987. The advertiser renewed its leases for rooftop billboards with se...

The court upholds a district court dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction of recreational groups' claims that the U.S. Forest Service violated the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it designated certain areas of the Shawnee National Forest as Research Natur...

The court reverses a district court order awarding landowners $1,083,585 following a jury verdict insofar as that amount was based on the landowners' Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) claims against a copier refurbisher, but upholds the award insofar as i...

The court holds that a district court erroneously denied an environmental group's motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the U.S. Forest Service from proceeding with certain timber sales in the Payette National Forest in Idaho. In separate litigation, a district court held that a Forest Serv...

The court reverses and remands a lower court decision holding that a portion of the National Park Service's (NPS') backcountry management plan (BMP) for the Canyonlands National Park in Utah that allows motor vehicle access on a 10-mile segment of road violates the National Park Service Organic Act ...

The court reverses and remands a district court decision that landowners who sued oil companies in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) suit did not incur response costs in acting to contain a proven release of hazardous substances. The court fist holds th...