The court holds that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' denial of landowners' Clean Water Act §404 permit application effected a permanent taking of their property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. The court first holds that the landowners' claim is ripe. Even if more information were offered by ...

The court holds that the state land department was justified in rejecting conservationists' applications to lease grazing land for nongrazing conservation and recreation purposes. The lands at issue were subject to the Arizona-New Mexico Enabling Act (Enabling Act), which requires the affected land ...

The court holds that a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regulation that prohibits private landowners in Tennessee and North Carolina from intentionally taking red wolves found on their property unless the wolf is attacking or has attacked a person, livestock, or pets, is a valid exercise of fede...

The court grants in part a petition to clarify an April 11, 2000, decision in which it applied Colorado law and reversed a district court holding that the pollution exclusion clause in one of two policies held by a sanitation district precluded an insurer's duty to defend the district against a Clea...

The court holds that a landowner did not have a private right-of-action under the Illinois Environmental Protection Act (IEPA) to bring contribution claims against previous property owners for the cleanup of an underground storage tank. The court first holds that it is clear from the statutory schem...

The court grants a city's petition for review and reverses the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC's) order requiring the city to conduct a study of the effects of the Yelm Hydroelectric Project on the anadromous fish in the Nisqually River in Washington. The study would be used to determin...

The court grants a Superfund site administrative group's motion to compel two alleged potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to serve responses to the group's Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 36(a) requests for admission concerning the text of purchase agreements that reportedly address the liabiliti...

The court holds that farmer and cattlemen associations lack standing under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §551(13), to challenge the U.S. Forest Service's involvement with the Colorado lynx recovery plan, which concerns the introduction of Canadian lynx into the state. The court f...

The court affirms a magistrate judge's decision awarding an oil transporter $90,766 for damages arising from hazardous sludge loaded onto the transporter's barge by the seller of spent lube oil. The seller contracted with the transporter to carry 18,000 barrels of spent lube oil. The seller did not ...

The court holds that intervenors may not be granted a writ of mandamus directing a trial court to allow them to appear at a fairness hearing and object to a proposed class action settlement agreement between class members and a company that allegedly contaminated the class members' riparian property...