The court upholds the conviction of three individuals that organized a 20,000-person event in the Allegheny National Forest without obtaining a special permit in violation of U.S. Forest Service (the Service) regulations. The court first holds that the regulations are not unconstitutionally vague be...

The U.S. Supreme Court holds that the criminal conviction of a hazardous waste facility operator under a Pennsylvania hazardous waste statute for operating a hazardous waste facility without a permit violated the federal Due Process Clause. When the operator was convicted, he in fact had a permit, b...

The court holds that an insurer providing a liability policy that covers damage to tangible property on the insureds' premises has no duty to defend the insureds in an easement dispute. The dispute arose after the insureds graded an access road on their property that allegedly interfered with their ...

The court affirms the Court of Federal Claims' dismissal of individuals' claims that the enactment of the Seneca Nation Land Claims Settlement Act (SNLCSA) constituted a taking of property rights that the individuals held on the Allegany Reservation of the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI). The individ...

The court holds that a natural gas storage facility operator may go forward with its federal preemption action against a state environmental agency in which it seeks a declaratory judgment enjoining the agency from revisiting its issuance of various state permits to the operator. After the operator'...

The court holds that a developer's right to procedural due process was violated when a county planning agency failed to provide a hearing to the developer before halting a previously approved land development project, but that a district court correctly granted the county's summary judgment motion a...

The court upholds the decision of the state Fund Insurance Review Board that an underground storage tank (UST) installer is ineligible for reimbursement from the state's Ground Water Oil Clean-Up Fund for its costs of cleaning up gasoline contamination discovered in 1998 from a leaking UST because t...

The court holds that a manufactured gas plant operator was not entitled to coverage for cleanup costs it incurred in connection with a contaminated area near the Merrimack River in New Hampshire because the contamination caused by the operator was not accidental as required by its insurance policies...

The court denies citizen groups' motion for a preliminary injunction to restrain West Virginia's environmental agency from issuing a surface mining permit that would allow a ridge top in the headwaters of Island Creek, West Virginia, to be mined. The groups claimed that in conducting the cumulative ...

The court affirms a district court dismissal of a residential complex's claim that a city's municipal waste disposal ordinance violates the U.S. Commerce Clause. The ordinance requires all waste to be deposited at the city's disposal area and all city businesses and residents to have their waste col...