The court holds that a power sale contract between an energy company and a public power district does not require the energy company to make current, nonrefundable payments of estimated decommissioning costs to the power district, but makes the energy company liable for decommissioning costs only in...
The court affirms a district court decision holding that a 1978 case concerning Native American fishing rights in the Puget Sound intended for the Lummi Indian Tribe's usual and accustomed fishing areas to extend to the northern outskirts, or suburbs, of Seattle as they existed in 1974. In the 1978 ...
The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service's (the Service's) environmental impact statement (EIS) and record of decision (ROD) for a mining operation on and around Buckhorn Mountain in California did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act, the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), or Nati...
The court upholds the conviction of three individuals that organized a 20,000-person event in the Allegheny National Forest without obtaining a special permit in violation of U.S. Forest Service (the Service) regulations. The court first holds that the regulations are not unconstitutionally vague be...
The court denies individuals' petition for a writ of mandamus directing a judicial panel on multidistrict litigation to remand the individuals' punitive damages claims for asbestos exposure for trial together with their personal injury claims. When the panel remanded the individuals' claims to the t...
The court vacates a district court declaratory judgment stating that a pollution exclusion clause in a landlord's insurance policy precluded coverage against a tenant's lead poisoning claim. The district court issued the judgment during the pendency of a state court action addressing the same issue....
The court upholds the dismissal of a transporter company's claim that its insurer breached its duty under a marine insurance policy to defend and indemnify the company in a qui tam action brought under the False Claims Act (FCA). The transporter was hired as a subcontractor to transport coal to the ...
The court holds that, applying the "place of operations" test, a district court lacks federal diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §1332 to hear a manufacturer's slander, libel, malicious prosecution, and equitable relief claims against an environmental group arising from the group's Clean Air Ac...
The court affirms a district court holding that an oil producers association contesting the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) take-or-pay royalties policy failed to challenge a final agency action and, therefore, the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over the association's complaint. ...
The court affirms a trial court holding that three comprehensive general liability insurers could not be required to defend or indemnify an insured property owner with respect to environmental cleanup costs and other liabilities arising from property that the owner did not own during the relevant po...