The court holds that an insurer has no duty under its comprehensive general liability insurance (CGL) policies to defend or indemnify a toy manufacturer subject to state administrative enforcement proceedings to remedy groundwater contamination resulting from the insured's release of trichloroethyle...

The court affirms a district court holding that a development company failed to exhaust adequate state remedies in challenging as a taking a special assessment levied by a village. In 1980, the village entered an agreementto construct a local sewer system and levied reserve capacity assessments to f...

The court affirms a trial court holding that no insurance coverage existed for 21 of a company's contaminated landfill sites. For purposes of determining if the company's insurance applied, the court set forth four categories of sites. The first category is one where the insured is responsible for c...

The court holds that the New York Air Pollution Mitigation Law is preempted by the Clean Air Act (CAA) and violates the U.S. Commerce Clause. Under Air Pollution Mitigation Law §66-k, an electric generator is assessed an offset penalty when it sells a sulfur dioxide (SO2) allowance to a generator i...

The court affirms a district court decision enjoining federal administrative proceedings on the grounds that the proceedings infringed upon a state's constitutionally protected sovereign interests. Three individuals filed administrative complaints against Rhode Island's environmental agency alleging...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service (Forest Service) violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Rescissions Act by reissuing a permit for livestock grazing in the Gallatin National Forest without first conducting a NEPA review. In 1994, the Forest Service implemented a po...

The court reverses a district court decision that a property owner could not recover response costs under the Pennsylvania Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act (HSCA) because he failed to establish a release or threat of release of hazardous substances. A town previously used the property as a landfill, and ...

The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision that found the U.S. government and oil companies liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for dumping acid sludge from the production of aviation gas during World War II an...

The court holds that California's Proposition 4, which bans the use of certain traps and poisons to capture or kill wildlife in the state, is preempted by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Wildlife Refuge Systems Improvement Act (NWRSIA). An environmental group brought suit against t...

The court reverses a district court decision holding that a Washington county tax imposed against a Native American tribe after it transferred forest land to the United States to hold in trust for the tribe was a permissible taxation of land under the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887. Under Wash...