The court overturns two individuals' conspiracy convictions for mail fraud, but upholds their conspiracy convictions for unlawfully injecting wastewater into disposal wells and attempting to cover up their crimes. The individuals were charged with entering into a conspiracy with five objects: (1) im...
The court reverses a district court decision holding that a Washington county tax imposed against a Native American tribe after it transferred forest land to the United States to hold in trust for the tribe was a permissible taxation of land under the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887. Under Wash...
The court affirms a district court judgment finding an Ohio oil tank maintenance company liable for the damages from a fuel leak that occurred after it negligently cut holes in an oil company's storage tank, but the oil company's failure to test the tank prior to filling rendered it contributorily n...
The court affirms a district court dismissal of a developer's taking claim against a city as unripe due to the developer's failure to exhaust his state court remedies. The developer received a permit to build a townhouse project, but the permit was subject to nine conditions. The developer claimed t...
The court denies an electric utility association's petition to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) interpretation of its state and federal operating permit program regulations. According to EPA, the regulations allow permit-issuing authorities to enhance the conditions included...
The court holds that a jury properly found that a feed company negligently provided feed advice to a Nebraska dairy farmer and that the farmer was entitled to lost market value damages, but that the jury improperly awarded lost profits to the farmer. The jury properly held that an agriculture cooper...
The court upholds a trial court's decision to admit expert testimony on the issue of causation in a case involving the destruction of oyster beds that allegedly resulted from an oil spill off the Oregon coast. The testimony presented by the oyster bed owners' expert was properly admitted under Rule ...
The court affirms in part and vacates in part a district court's award of attorney fees to environmental groups that sought to rescind new mining permits issued to a company that owned a mine in violation of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA). The U.S. Department of the Interior'...
The court holds that farmers' National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) action challenging a proposed federal and state plan for managing the California San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Bay-Delta) water resources is ripe for judicial review before any site-specific action is taken. The...
The court reverses a district court dismissal of a property owner's claims of retaliation and denial of equal protection and due process against a county that imposed conditions, delays, and fees in connection with the owner's application for a polo field and residential building permit. The distric...