A nonprofit organization challenging a federal agency's system for regulating nonprescription drugs is found by the court to lack standing to sue. Where an associational plaintiff acts not to vindicate its own interest but in a representational capacity, those whose injury is sought to be redressed ...

The court invalidates a provision in the New York City Health Code which prohibits the operation of a nuclear reactor in the city, except pursuant to a municipal certificate of health and safety, finding the measure preempted by the Atomic Energy Act. Despite defendant's arguments to the contrary, t...

The court affirms the district court's opinion, 7 ELR 20658, in a suit in which the owner of a barge seeks to limits its liability for cleanup costs arising from an oil spill from the barge. The court first upholds the trial court's finding that the barge owner is solely at fault for the accident. S...

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals vacates a lower court's order, 8 ELR 20717, granting a mining company's motion under FED. R. CIV. P. 60(b)(5) for relief from a consent decree in an action to enforce discharge limitations in its national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit. The ...

In a suit by the United States seeking reimbursement for the costs of cleaning up an oil spill, the court holds that the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) provides a limitation on the amount of recovery, in the absence of willful negligence or misconduct, and precludes recovery in excess o...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms a lower court's judgment, 5 ELR 20657, that a power supply contract for a proposed aluminum reduction plant is valid but unenforceable pending preparation by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) of an environmental impact statement (EIS) pursuant to th...

The Fifth Circuit affirms the district court's award of compensatory damages to plaintiffs for water pollution discharged from defendant's industrial plant but reverses the lower court's award of judgment notwithstanding the verdict to defendant on plaintiffs' additional claim for exemplary damages....

In a suit for compensatory and declaratory relief, the California Supreme Court holds that an owner of property that is reduced in value through enactment of a restrictive zoning ordinance may not, in an action for inverse condemnation, obtain damages from the municipality. Rather, the relief availa...

The court reverses the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) denial of petitioner's request for an adjudicatory hearing regarding the Agency's refusal to renew petitioner's national pollutant discharge elimination system permit. In requesting the hearing, petitioner claimed that its facility was...

The court affirms in part and reverses in part the decision of the district court, 7 ELR 20078, which granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on plaintiff's challenge to flood control projects in the Missouri River Basin. The district court is affirmed in its interpretation of the discretion...