Bankcorpsouth Bank v. Environmental Operations, Inc.
A district court held that a bank may go forward with its CERCLA and negligence claims against engineering and remediation companies that prepared and implemented an environmental remediation plan for property in which the bank holds an interest, but it dismissed the bank's strict liability and negl...
Saline River Properties, LLC, v. Johnson Controls, Inc.
A district court held that a developer may be liable under CERCLA for response costs the former owner of contaminated property incurred at the site. The developer, who now owns the site, filed suit against the former owner to enforce an administrative order on consent that requires the former owner ...
Flue-Cured Tobacco Coop. Stabilization Corp. v. EPA
The court vacates a district court decision that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated its statutory obligations under the Radon Gas and Indoor Air Quality Act (Radon Act) by issuing a report that analyzed the effects of secondhand smoke on human health and categorized secondhand s...
Benzman v. Whitman
A court partially grants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) and individuals' motions to dismiss a class action suit stemming from plaintiffs' exposure to hazardous substances in the interior of their residences, schools, and workplaces as a result of the dust and debris released from...
Lombardi v. Whitman
The Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of rescue, search, and cleanup workers' substantive due process complaint against federal officials for knowingly issuing false statements about air quality safety in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center. The wor...
Coalition for Equal Rights v. Ritter
The Tenth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of Colorado's Clean Indoor Air Act. The Act bans smoking in indoor areas, but it expressly exempts from this general prohibition "airport smoking concessions" such as airport restaurants and bars. A coalition of tavern and bar owners filed suit challeng...
Benzman v. Whitman
The Second Circuit remanded with directions to dismiss claims against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a former Agency administrator for misleading plaintiffs into believing that the air quality in lower Manhattan in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, was safe enough to permit th...
New York v. Almy Bros., Inc.
The court grants in part and denies in part a Fed. R. Civ. P. rule 12(f) motion to strike certain affirmative defenses of a third-party defendant brought by a responsible party who was held liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The court fir...
National Audubon Soc'y v. Hoffman
The court holds that a U.S. Forest Service proposal for a logging project and road extension in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but not the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The court first holds that neither the district cour...