The court holds that contribution actions under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §113 are legal in nature and thus create a Seventh Amendment right to jury trial. A right to jury trial exists in a statutorily created action only where the action is ...

The court holds that the United States stated a claim under §107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for recovery of response costs incurred as a result of the release or threatened release of hazardous substances at a mining site in Colorado. On...

The court affirms the conviction and sentence of a marina manager for discharging pollutants into navigable waters of the United States in violation of §§301(a) and 309(c)(2) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. The court first holds that the evidence presented and the reasonable inferences...

The court holds that a uranium processing company is liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for response costs incurred by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at the company's New Mexico facility, from which mine tailings seeped int...

The court holds that a human being is not a point source under §301 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), and overturns the conviction of a co-owner and vice president of a laboratory, who placed vials containing human blood into the Hudson River, for knowingly discharging pollutants ...

The court holds that material questions of fact exist that preclude summary judgment on whether the government knew of a real estate developer's dredge and fill activities in violation of §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) within the federal five-year statute of limitations. Th...

The court holds that the making of false turbidity reports containing water quality data required by Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), in a state given primary enforcement responsibility under the Act, is a matter within EPA's jurisdictio...

The court holds that the National Park Service is not required to prohibit snowmobiling in a portion of a national park in Minnesota pending study of the area for wilderness designation under the Wilderness Act, 16 U.S.C. §§1131-1136. The court first holds that Congress expressly authorized the us...

The court holds that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision under §21 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) denying a petition to revise the definition of "polychlorinated biphenyls" (PCBs) was not arbitrary and capricious. A products manufacturer filed a TSCA §21 petitio...

The court holds that a chemical company was not relieved of its duty to warn an employee about the danger of working with toxic chemicals, and the injured employee's fear of losing his job raises questions of fact about whether he assumed the risk of exposure to toxic chemical fumes. An employee sus...