The Fifth Circuit held that a corporation should not be held liable as an arranger under CERCLA for costs associated with cleaning up a plume of perchloroethylene (PERC) that discharged from a dry cleaning business that operated in the 1960s and 1970s. A district court in 2006 had held the corporati...

A district court granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit against a Canadian mining company for allegedly causing individuals residing near the Upper Columbia River to suffer various health diseases due to toxic and hazardous air emissions from the company's smel...

A district court struck down California's sales ban on foie gras—a delicacy made from fattened duck liver. Foie gras producers and sellers argued that the federal Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA) preempts the ban, Cal. Health & Safety Code §25982, and the court agreed. The PPIA expressl...

A Pennsylvania court held that the state legislature acted within its constitutional authority when it gave itself the power to transfer money out of a special account, funded by oil and gas revenue from state lands, that had been set aside for conservation projects; but that the state's Department ...

The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld state legislation enacted in 2012 that permits major oil pipeline carriers to obtain approval from the governor to exercise the power of eminent domain for building a pipeline—such as the controversial Keystone XL—in Nebraska. A lower court held that the law was...

The Second Circuit vacated individuals' convictions for making false statements and conspiring to violate CERCLA. The jury instructions stated that because the defendant has an interest in the outcome of the trial, he has a motive to testify falsely and that the jury should bear this in mind when ev...

A California appellate court upheld a lower court decision denying an environmental group's petition challenging a county's approval of a proposed surface mining operation on a 1,500-acre site at the base of the Sierra Nevada foothills. As required by the California Environmental Quality Act, an env...

A district court dismissed four individuals' claims that the emission of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) from an oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, caused them a variety of physical and mental damages. The toxic tort case involves 1,836 plaintiffs who allege exposure to H2S and SO...