The court holds that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) arbitrarily and capriciously listed several subpopulations of bull trout as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). In 1994, FWS concluded that listing the bull trout as a species was warranted but precluded. Then, in response ...

The court vacates two Court of International Trade orders that were issued after an environmental group withdrew its motion to enforce the Court of International Trade's ruling pertaining to the enforcement of turtle excluder device regulations under §609 of the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Justic...

The court holds that various federal agencies violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in their preparations of biological assessments (BAs), biological opinions (BOs), and environmental impact statements (EIS) with respect to the survival of the Son...

A district court upheld the FWS's determination that sport-hunted polar bear trophies may no longer be imported into the United States under the Marine Mammals Protection Act (MMPA) as of the effective date of the ESA listing rule for the species. In May 2008, the FWS determined threatened status fo...

A district court held that the FWS violated NEPA, but not the ESA, when it issued a special rule that specifies the protective mechanisms that apply to the polar bear as a result of its threatened status. In May 2008, the FWS listed the polar bear as threatened under the ESA. The Service then issued...

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 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 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...

The court holds that two insurance companies have no duty to defend or indemnify a company that served as the intermediary for the disposal of dioxin-contaminated waste against personal injury and property damage claims allegedly arising from contamination at Missouri sites where the waste was spray...