The Alabama Supreme Court held that a property owner may go forward with its inverse condemnation claim against the director of the state transportation agency for allowing contaminated water to be pumped onto the owner's land. Although the agency is immune from suit, valid inverse condemnation acti...

A New Jersey appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a trial court decision dismissing without prejudice property owners' complaint alleging their property had been contaminated by chemicals discharged from a neighboring dry cleaning business. The New Jersey Environmental Rights Act all...

A district court held that the owner of a vacant property is liable under CERCLA for the release of hazardous waste intentionally caused by trespassers. The owner, who left oil drums on the property, claimed she was entitled to the innocent landowner defense. But she failed to show by a preponderanc...

A district court dismissed, with leave to amend, a dry cleaning business owner's CERCLA claims against a water company for soil and groundwater contamination. The owner alleged that the water company's operation of a nearby well led to the release of perchloroethylene (PCE). But the complaint does n...

A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed residents' lawsuit challenging a city's decision not to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a proposed mixed-use commercial and residential project. The residents mai...

A California court upheld the California Air Resource Board's (CARB's) authority to sell greenhouse gas allowances at auction under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, also known as Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32). As in its tentative decision issued last August, the court ruled that the a...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court decision dismissing a clean energy group's petition challenging a city's certification and approval of an environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for a proposed update to the city's general plan. The group argued that the approved final EIR fell...

A district court held that the Virgin Islands may go forward with its suit to recover response costs it incurred responding to the release of hazardous substances at a former alumina facility. Under CERCLA, at least some costs must be incurred prior to the start of litigation in order for a plaintif...

A California appellate court held that California's Commission on State Mandates erred in ruling that certain requirements set forth in a municipal stormwater sewer permit for Los Angeles County constituted unfunded state mandates subject to reimbursement under the state constitution. Although the p...

The Second Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision dismissing as time barred New York's CERCLA claims against several defendants for costs a town incurred investigating and addressing groundwater contamination stemming from the New Cassel Industrial Area. The lower court held that the st...