The court holds that the pollution exclusion clauses contained in two insurance policies preclude coverage for a large trichloroethylene (TCE) spill at a heating and air conditioning equipment manufacturer's plant. The spill occurred after TCE in a degreasing tank overflowed and spilled into a drain...

The court affirms a district court holding that, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), an interagency Port-Orford cedar (POC) management program prepared by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was not a final agency action that requir...

The court holds that Georgia law applies to consolidated cases involving environment-related insurance claims arising from an insured's ownership and operation of two gas stations in South Carolina. The insurer filed an action in a South Carolina federal court for a declaratory judgment that no cove...

The court holds that the U.S. Forest Service failed to meet National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requirements for public disclosure of information and failed to take a hard look at the effects of proposed timber sales from the Miners Creek and West Camas Creek drainages in the Targhee National F...

The court holds that a pollution exclusion clause in a comprehensive general liability (CGL) policy unambiguously excludes coverage of injuries arising from an accidental ammonia spill in an office building as well as injuries due to the aerial spraying of a chemical insecticide. The court first hol...

The court issues a mandatoryinjunction against an oil company for extensive contamination of a river and surrounding land, but due to lack of evidence refuses to enjoin three other companies. The court first declines to invoke the doctrine of primary jurisdiction. The doctrine does not mandate blind...

The court vacates a bankruptcy court decision that a bankrupt gasoline station satisfied its cleanup obligations and was due payment under a settlement agreement that provided for the lessor's buyout of the gasoline station's lease. The agreement stated that 75 percent of the payment would be releas...

The court holds that a lower court erroneously limited its taking analysis to only one of four contiguous lots owned by developers who were denied a permit to fill wetlands on their property. The court first holds that, at the least, all four of the developer's parcels of property should be consider...

The Court holds that the Crow Tribe and the United States, as the tribe's trustee, may not recover state and county coal-extraction taxes imposed on and paid by the tribe's mineral lessee. The Court first notes that, as a general rule, a nontaxpayer may not sue for a refund of taxes paid by another....

The court holds that the Swinomish Tribe's usual and accustomed fishing places do not include any waters within Puget Sound salmon management and catch reporting area 10, and a prior decision's description of the Lummi Tribe's usual and accustomed fishing places is ambiguous. The Muckleshoot Tribe s...