A California appellate court affirmed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a city sued for certifying environmental impact reports (EIRs) and approving development projects on over 6,800 acres of undeveloped land in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The c...

The First Circuit certified to the Massachusetts Supreme Court questions concerning the allocation of liability in a dispute over the extent of insurance coverage owed for a gas company's strict liability for environmental cleanup costs at a former manufactured gas plant. At trial, the jury awarded ...

A Louisiana appellate court held that state law allows the state's environmental agency to be held liable for personal injury and property damages when a permittee has contaminated its neighbors' property and the agency knew about the toxic contamination but failed to properly regulate the permittee...

An Ohio appellate court upheld the dismissal of a property owner's state contribution claim against a mega-store for costs incurred cleaning up mercury and lead contamination at a recycling facility. The owner failed to prepare and submit a "no further action letter" necessary to pursue contribution...

The Alaska Supreme Court held that gasoline leaked from the broken fill pipe of an underground storage tank (UST) is a "pollutant" under the absolute pollution exclusion contained in the tank owner's commercial liability insurance policy. The policy's pollution exclusion unambiguously excluded prope...

An Illinois appellate court reinstated a $120 million jury verdict awarded in favor of residents who filed a nuisance class action suit against the owner of a nearby oil refinery. After the entry of the multimillion dollar jury award in favor of the residents, the trial court decertified the class, ...

A California appellate court upheld the dismissal of a landowner's claims that an airport land use compatibility plan for the Travis Air Force Base is not consistent with an Air Force installation compatible use zone study prepared for the site. A landowner argued that the safety and noise standards...

The Rhode Island Supreme Court reversed a jury verdict finding three lead paint producers liable for creating a public nuisance. The state has not and cannot allege any set of facts to support its public nuisance claim that would establish that defendants interfered with a public right or that defen...

A New York court held that the state environmental agency arbitrarily and capriciously denied a developer's application to include in the state brownfield cleanup program certain parcels of contaminated land that it plans to convert into a mega-mall and resort center. Admission into the program give...

The Indiana Supreme Court held that landowners who incurred costs remediating contamination from leaking underground storage tanks may go forward with their state-law contribution claim against the prior owners under the Indiana Underground Storage Tanks Act. The 10-year statute of limitations does ...