The court holds that the issue of whether a six-year statute of limitations for actions brought by the United States applies to Minerals Management Service (MMS) administrative orders to pay oil and gas royalties is moot. The MMS issued an order on May 17, 1994, finding that an oil company's predece...

The court holds that the owners of royalty interests in federal oil and gas leases are not entitled to royalty payments from their lessee. During ongoing title disputes over mineral patent rights between the federal government and several private parties, the lessee acquired both federal and private...

The court holds that the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM's) failure to prevent livestock from trespassing on public lands over which a rancher held grazing permits does not constitute a Fifth Amendment taking or a breach of contract. The case arose out of BLM's failure to fully enforce an injunctio...

The court issues a mandatoryinjunction against an oil company for extensive contamination of a river and surrounding land, but due to lack of evidence refuses to enjoin three other companies. The court first declines to invoke the doctrine of primary jurisdiction. The doctrine does not mandate blind...

The court holds that a lower court erroneously limited its taking analysis to only one of four contiguous lots owned by developers who were denied a permit to fill wetlands on their property. The court first holds that, at the least, all four of the developer's parcels of property should be consider...

The court holds that a delay in the issuance of a development permit partly owing to the mistaken assertion of jurisdiction by a state agency does not constitute a temporary taking. The state agency originally denied a landowner's application for building permits due in part to the agency's erroneou...

The court affirms the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) decision to redesignate the Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, Ohio, area as a Clean Air Act (CAA) attainment area for ozone. The court first holds that an organization of manufacturers and local governments from the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley,...

The court holds that a corporation's insurance policy covered costs related to the 1979 discovery of contamination resulting from a 1974 perchloroethylene (PERC) spill. The court first notes that under Rhode Island law "property damage" and "occurrence" are inextricably intertwined. There can be no ...

The court holds that an insurance company does not owe a duty to defend and indemnify policyholders in an action arising out of the policyholders' maintenance of a solid waste dump on property subsequently sold to a developer. The court first holds that the policyholders have preserved only the owne...

The court holds that a Minnesota statute requiring public entities to comply with county waste management plans does not violate the federal Commerce Clause. The court first holds that the appellant waste contractors' association does not have standing to challenge one of the waste disposal statutes...