The court partially reverses the dismissal of an Alien Tort Claims Act action brought by residents of Papua New Guinea against a mining corporation claiming numerous violations of international law and racial discrimination. None of the residents' claims presents nonjusticiable political questions, ...

The court modified a lower court order compelling arbitration, enjoining an action in Nigeria, and staying a company's admiralty and maritime law claims against various shipping entities for damages arising from a contaminated shipment of oil that was transported from New Jersey to Nigeria. Based on...

The court held that it lacked appellate jurisdiction over a lower court's partial grant of summary judgment in favor of the parent company of a chemical plant in Bhopal, India, that allegedly caused soil and groundwater contamination. Property owners and residents near the plant sought monetary and ...

The court held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear environmental groups' claims against U.S. Customs, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Fisheries for allowing threatened and endangered salmon to be imported from Canada into the United States ...

The Federal Circuit held that conservation groups lack standing to pursue their Endangered Species Act (ESA) §9 claim against various federal agencies and officials for failing to enforce a ban on importing endangered and threatened fish but that they may have standing to challenge the agencies...

The court grants in part and denies in part a Fed. R. Civ. P. rule 12(f) motion to strike certain affirmative defenses of a third-party defendant brought by a responsible party who was held liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The court fir...

The court holds that a U.S. Forest Service proposal for a logging project and road extension in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), but not the National Forest Management Act (NFMA). The court first holds that neither the district cour...

The court holds that future Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) contribution actions by settling private defendants against private nonsettlors at a New York Superfund site will be governed by the Uniform Comparative Fault Act (UCFA) and CERCLA §113(f)(1),...

The court holds several corporations liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for response costs associated with a New York landfill. The court first holds that by introducing competent proof that three of the defendant target corporations dispo...

The court holds that Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107 cost recovery actions are not available to potentially responsible parties (PRPs) and that divisibility of harm is not a defense to §113 contribution claims. The court first holds that CERCLA d...