Applying Texas law, the court holds that an insurer properly denied an oil company coverage for a discharge of pollutants that contaminated adjacent property and waterways. The pollution was caused when a drilling pit collapsed in the company's well. The court first holds that the insurer legitimate...
The court holds that a commercial property owner may bring a negligent remediation claim against the owner of a gasoline station for damages allegedly caused by gasoline that leaked from the station's underground storage tanks (USTs). The property owner, however, cannot bring strict liability, tresp...
The court refuses to dismiss a property owner's nuisance claims against a company that contaminated land near the owner's home with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The court, however, dismisses the property owner's remaining claims. The court first dismisses the owner's claims of negligence, aggra...
The court upholds the Research and Special Programs Administration's (RSPA's) final emergency discharge control rule for cargo tank motor vehicles and its interpretation of the attendance regulation requiring an operator to be in attendance during the loading and unloading of cargo tanks. Gas compan...
The Court reverses the Tenth Circuit and holds that U.S. reservation of coal under the Coal Land Acts of 1909 and 1910 did not include coalbed methane (CBM) gas. Consequently, a Native American tribe having equitable title to coal in reservation lands that homesteaders settled under the 1909 and 191...
The court grants the Central Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission's motion for a preliminary injunction against a state that allegedly violated an interstate compact. The injunction would prohibit the state from requiring the commission to pay for the state's defense costs in the commis...
The court holds that a planning agency for the Lake Tahoe area must compensate property owners for taking their property through development restrictions. The development plan for the Lake Tahoe area significantly restricts development in high hazard areas to prevent further eutrophication of the la...
The court holds that an insurer need not provide coverage to a metal manufacturer that failed to give the insurer timely notice of a state claim seeking remediation of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination. The manufacturer's insurance policies required it to immediately inform the insurer of...
The court holds that a city is not immune from a company's negligence suit for allegedly delivering contaminated water to the company's facilities. The company sought damages for the cost of replacing corroded pipes in a fire protection sprinkler system and a permanent injunction and/or writ of mand...
The court holds that insurers have a duty to defend two cities that disposed of sewage sludge at a landfill that became a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CER-CLA) site. The court first holds that the sudden and accidental exception to the pollution exclusion cl...