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W.R. Grace & Co. v. Weja, Inc.

The court reversed and remanded a lower court decision dismissing a property owner's claims against the former tenants and operators of a gas station in New Jersey and two oil companies that supplied gasoline to the site. There were issues of material fact as to whether delivery spills and overfills...

Parks Real Estate Purchasing Group v. National Union Fire Ins. Co.

The court vacated and remanded a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of an insurance company in a case involving building damage caused by particulate matter emanating from the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. The insurer denied the claim under the insurance policy's contamina...

In re Exxon Valdez

The court cut nearly in half the $4.5 billion punitive damages award against Exxon Mobil in connection with its 1989 oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The ratio of punitive damages to actual economic harm resulting from the spill exceeded by a material factor the ratio that would be appropr...

Glass v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

The court upheld a tax court's decision that taxpayers' conservation easements were qualified contributions under I.R.C. §170(h)(1). The Internal Revenue Service argued that the taxpayers were not entitled to deductions for the two easements because they did not qualify as "qualified conservati...

State v. Underwriters at Lloyd's London

An appellate court reversed a lower court decision holding that insurers need not indemnify the state for damage caused to third parties due to the discharge of pollutants from the Stringfellow Acid Pits waste disposal site. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the insurers based on ...

Hallco Texas, Inc. v. McMullen County

The court dismissed a landowner's takings claim against a county for denying it a variance from a local ordinance that prohibits landfills within three miles of a water-supply reservoir. The action was barred by res judicata. The facts relevant to the landowner's present takings claim—the coun...

North Kern Water Storage Dist. v. Kern Delta Water Dist.

An appellate court reversed a lower court decision concerning the forfeiture of certain previously appropriated waters of the Kern River. The parties' primary dispute concerned the theoretical entitlement of a junior user versus the volume of water actually available to that user on a given day. The...

Northwest Bypass Group v. Corps of Eng'rs

A district court denied a motion to preliminarily enjoin a city from filling 3.5 acres of wetlands to construct a road. Environmental groups and homeowners argued that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the Clean Water Act (CWA), National Environmental Policy Act, and the National Historic Pr...

McNamara v. Rittman, City of

The court upheld a lower court decision dismissing residents' takings claim against a city for the dewatering of their water wells in the 1990s. Their takings claim based on past violations was barred by the statute of limitations because it was delinquently filed in federal court. Meanwhile, their ...

Ibeto Petrochemical Indus. Ltd. v. M/T Beffen

The court modified a lower court order compelling arbitration, enjoining an action in Nigeria, and staying a company's admiralty and maritime law claims against various shipping entities for damages arising from a contaminated shipment of oil that was transported from New Jersey to Nigeria. Based on...