The court upholds a Connecticut municipality's regulation requiring owners of land partially within designated wetlands areas to obtain municipal approval before erecting structures on the land's nonwetlands portion. The court first holds that the regulation does not impermissibly expand the jurisdi...

The court holds that insurance companies have a duty to defend an insured chemical company under its comprehensive general liability (CGL) policies against claims by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for response costs and natural resource damages under the Comprehensive Environmental R...

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 a pollution exclusion clause in a comprehensive general liability insurance policy does not bar an insured county's right to indemnification of amounts that it must pay in lawsuits resulting from pollution from a landfill. The clause provided that the insurer was not obligated t...

The court holds that a state-imposed public easement over private beachfront property is not a compensable taking, and the risk that some property would be lost to the sea was assumed at purchase. After hurricane Alicia in 1983 and the storm tides in 1988, the private beach properties were left part...

The court holds that the district court improperly ruled on summary judgment that two Ohio statutes regulating the import of solid waste generated in other states for disposal in Ohio violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The statutes establish higher fees for wastes generated outsi...

The court holds that the Army Corps of Engineers' denial of landowners' Federal Water Pollution Control Act §404 permit application to develop property containing wetlands constitutes a Fifth Amendment taking entitling the landowners to just compensation. The landowners' property included 12 acres ...

The Court holds that a Michigan law requiring private landfill operators to limit their business to accepting wastes only from the counties in which their facilities are located violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. A landfill operator who was denied authority to accept out-of-state...

The court holds that a local ordinance imposing geographic restrictions on the sources of waste for a regional medical waste incinerator does not violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. A commercial enterprise obtained authorization to construct a medical waste incinerator, and after c...

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...