The court reverses and remands a district court contempt order imposing over $114 million in sanctions against a chemical manufacturing company for violating the court's discovery orders. The district court found that the company deliberately withheld critical test documents during a trial regarding...

The court holds that a former owner of petroleum-contaminated property is not liable to the current owner on state-law claims of fraud and strict liability for the alleged expense of removing leaking underground storage tanks from the site. The court first holds that to succeed on its fraud claim, t...

The court holds that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) acted within the scope of its discretion in issuing a regulation that established a rebuttable presumption that loose closures on railroad tank cars transporting hazardous materials result from the shipper's failure to conduct a proper...

The court rejects a district court trial plan that provided for a unitary trial on general liability and causation in a mass tort case against an oil company that owned a crude oil storage waste pit on which plaintiff-appellees' homes were built. The trial plan provided for a bellwether group of 30 ...

The court affirms a district court decision that New Jersey's solid waste flow control laws violate the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause, but reverses the lower court's decision to stay an injunction against enforcement of those laws until two years after the exhaustion of appeals and certiorari ...

The Court holds that the Eleventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution bars the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's suit against Idaho and Idaho officials over title to submerged lands within the original boundaries of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. The Court first holds that under well-established principles, the ...

The court upholds a trial court determination that a use prohibition issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers under Federal Water Pollution Control Act §404 constitutes a mere diminution in value of a real estate developer's land and does not constitute a compensable categorical taking. The court...

The court holds that plaintiff-appellant landowners' allegation that gasoline contamination from an adjoining property constituted a continuing nuisance presents an arguable cause of action under state law against the current adjacent landowner. The court first holds that plaintiff-appellants' plead...

The court holds that a Michigan confined disposal facility (CDF) run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) must accept dredged materials that were accumulated to determine the environmental impacts that the construction of a combined sewer overflow (CSO) retention basin will have on a cree...

The court holds that a district court properly transferred to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims a case involving the issuance of two Indian Land Certificates. In 1944, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) issued an individual two parcels of land. Upon the death of the individual in 1989, DOI can...