The Court rules that a South Carolina beachfront regulation that prohibits construction seaward of a setback line cannot be sustained without paying just compensation for a developer's lost use of two vacant beachfront lots. The developer bought the lots, located on a South Carolina barrier island, ...

The court overrules a state appellate court decision holding that two bankruptcy trustees may be personally liable for violating Wisconsin's hazardous waste act after being appointed trustees in a liquidation proceeding. The state alleged that the trustees had allowed hazardous waste to be stored fo...

The court holds that the district court, in applying the rule of reason, did not abuse its discretion in dissolving an injunction when it held that the environmental impact statements (EISs) produced by the National Park Service (NPS), concerning the impact of any possible future mining activity in ...

The court, in a sequel case to Seattle Audubon Society v. Evans, 22 ELR 20372, enjoins the U.S. Forest Service from making additional timber sales in U.S. Forest Service Regions Five and Six that would log suitable habitat for the northern spotted owl until revised standards and guidelines complying...

The court holds that a district court erred when it interpreted pollution exclusion clauses in comprehensive general liability (CGL) insurance policies as not relieving an insurer of its duty to defend and reimburse an insured for its liability at hazardous waste sites. A defense industry manufactur...

The court holds that an appeal by commercial fishermen from a federal district court's dismissal of the fishermen's constitutional taking, equal protection, and due process challenge of a court-approved Michigan plan to restore aboriginal fishing rights to Michigan Indians, involving exclusive fishi...

On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the South Carolina Supreme Court directs the trial court to make specific findings of damages, commencing with the date of enactment of the 1988 state Beachfront Management Act through the date of the court's order, to compensate a landowner for a temporary dep...

The court holds that state and federal agencies involved in a proposed port project in Searsport, Maine, reasonably decided to restrict the analysis in an environmental impact statement (EIS) of secondary impacts from the project to four light-dry industries. The court also holds that the district c...

The court holds moot a citizen suit under §505 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) against a tannery operator for alleged discharges of industrial wastewater into a New York State sewer system in violation of the FWPCA and state law. Applying dicta from the U.S. Supreme Court's holdi...

The court holds that the presumption against extraterritorial application of statutes does not apply where the conduct regulated by the statute occurs primarily, if not exclusively, in the United States, and the alleged extraterritorial effect of the statute will be felt in Antarctica, and remands f...