The court holds that a Louisiana statute allowing direct appeal of decisions of the state Department of Environmental Quality to the state court of appeal, bypassing the state district courts, is unconstitutional, and the public rights doctrine has no application under the Louisiana Constitution. Th...

The court holds that the district court erred in holding that environmental groups lack standing in their Federal Water Pollution Control Act citizen suit challenging the Department of Energy's (DOE's) proposed reopening of a nuclear reactor at the Savannah River site in South Carolina. The reactor ...

The court holds that a computer circuit manufacturer is entitled to reimbursement under its comprehensive general liability insurance policy of expenses incurred pursuant to a government consent decree requiring it to clean up toxic waste contamination at a former manufacturing facility. The court f...

The court holds that nonprofit organizations interested in protecting and preserving the waters of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, do not have standing to sue. The court finds that the organizations did not allege specific facts showing a direct injury to any of their members sufficient to confer stand...

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 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 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...