The Supreme Court of Montana affirms the lower court and the Montana Board of Natural Resources and Conservation, holding that the board complied with the Montana Environment Policy Act (MEPA), the Montana Major Facility Siting Act, and the Montana Administrative Procedure Act (MAPA) in authorizing ...

Reversing the trial court, the New Jersey Supreme Court holds that respondents in a strict liability action for failure to warn of the health hazards of asbestos exposure may not use a state-of-the-art defense. The court rejects the argument of manufacturers and distributors that the knowledge imput...

The Ninth Circuit rules that the Hawaii Land Reform Act, which allows the state to condemn a residential lessor's property and sell it to lessees, unconstitutionally allows taking of property for private use. The Hawaii Legislature determined that a few persons were monopolizing residential property...

The court enjoins further demolition of a public pool until defendant complies with §106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Initially, the court holds that plaintiff will suffer irreparable harm unless a preliminary inju...

The district court enjoins the enforcement of a county ordinance that restricts disposal of out-of-state refuse in county landfills because the ordinance violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The ordinance required permission from the county council and executive before dum...

The Supreme Court holds that the legislative veto provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, §244(c)(2), is unconstitutional, thereby invalidating similar legislative veto clauses in other federal statutes. First, the Court dismisses jurisdictional challenges based on lack of standing and no...

The court rules that a town ordinance that regulates the amount of land available for sanitary landfills, but has the effect of barring new or expanded landfills, violates neither the Commerce Clause nor the due process guarantees of the Fourteenth Amendment. The ordinance limits the size of new or ...

The Supreme Court rules that res judicata bars the United States and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe from seeking water rights to the Truckee River to preserve Pyramid Lake and its fish populations. In the Orr Ditch litigation, settled in 1944, the United States, on behalf of the tribe and the Newland...

The Third Circuit affirms the district court decision, 12 ELR 20065, upholding the Secretary of the Interior's approval of New Jersey's Comprehensive Management Plan (CMP) for the Pinelands area against challenges based on the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Parks and Recreation A...

The court holds that coal dredging operations are subject to the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). Defendant dredged commercial quantities of coal that had been washed into the Guyandotte River from upstream loading and mining operations, abandoned mines, and exposed seams. The Uni...