The court, in a case of first impression under Utah law, holds that the "sudden and accidental" phrase in a comprehensive general liability policy pollution exclusion clause means abrupt or quick and unexpected or unintentional. An insurer denied indemnification to a natural gas company for continuo...

The court upholds a district court ruling that Louisiana statutes banning the import of hazardous waste from foreign countries violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court holds that it must affirm the district court's decision in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1992 decision in...

The court rules that Indiana waste transportation and disposal laws that impose restrictions on fleet dedication, backhauling, vehicle registration, bonding, and fees to discourage disposal of out-of-state solid waste violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Indiana enacted these restri...

The court holds that a California county, as a public entity and holder of the power of eminent domain, did not act in good faith when it entered private property to build improvements and thus must fully compensate the landowners for its own improvements. The court first concludes that the inapplic...

The court dismisses claims by property owners under 42 U.S.C. §§1983 and 1985 against a city, a waste management company, and a construction company for injunctive relief and monetary damages, based on alleged violations of civil rights guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S....

The court, applying New York law, holds that indemnification provisions in an asset purchase agreement between a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Recovery Act (CERCLA) defendant and a third-party defendant, when read in connection with a lease related to the agreement, are amb...

The court holds that state statutory provisions authorizing regulations that impose a surcharge on disposal of out-of-state solid waste are unconstitutional and severable, but that the surcharge does not violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court first holds that the surcharge r...

The court holds that the attachment to landowners' development permits of conditions that require landowners to dedicate portions of their property for public use is not a taking of property that violates the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. A city granted the landowners' application for re...

The Seventh Circuit upholds a district court's grant of summary judgment to the defendant prior owner of a petroleum carrying pipeline on plaintiffs landowners' claim for nuisance damages from a 1944 leak of unleaded gasoline. In 1986, while trying to sell the land, the landowners discovered petrole...

The court holds that a tank truck company is not entitled to summary judgment on claims against its insurers for indemnification of costs resulting from a government action against it under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) with respect to soil and gr...