A California appellate court held that the resident of an apartment complex that failed to limit secondhand smoke in outdoor common areas sufficiently pled a cause of action for public nuisance. The complex, by failing to act, created a condition that was harmful to health or obstructed the free use...

A California appellate court affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of an automobile manufacturer that was sued for breach of warranty and deceptive advertising with regard to a hybrid vehicle's fuel efficiency. An individual who purchased the manufa...

A California appellate court held that a trial court erred by limiting the state's insurance coverage for cleanup costs at the Stringfellow hazardous waste site to the policy limits in effect for any one policy period. In California, when there is a continuous loss spanning multiple policy periods, ...

A California appellate court upheld the constitutionality of California Fish and Game Code §8279.1(c), which regulates Dungeness crab fishing. The section states that if the crab season in Oregon or Washington is delayed, no one may fish for crab in Oregon or Washington for 30 days after the se...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court's grant of summary judgment in favor of a county that was sued by a school district for environmental problems and remediation costs incurred on district property due to ongoing effects of an inactive county landfill. The lower court concluded that...

A district court dismissed a county's lawsuit against a railroad company for allowing its locomotive engines to idle in violation of state air pollution law. This case involves railcars, the fumes they emit, and the tracks they use. Accordingly, its falls under the umbrella of federal regulatory aut...

The Colorado Supreme Court held that the state Mined Land Reclamation Act impliedly preempts a county's ban on the use of toxic or acidic chemicals, such as cyanide, for mineral processing in vat or heap leach operations for all zoning districts in the county. The county enacted the ordinance to pro...

A California appellate court reversed a lower court's summary judgment that a county's approval of a congregate care construction project did not violate the California Environmental Quality Act or its general land use plan. The county enacted a program that requires developers in a defined geograph...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a water company's petition challenging a water district's use of a statutory rate-setting exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act to raise groundwater-charge rates for fiscal year 2006-2007. Although the district's ...

A California appellate court held that a water district violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it approved an agreement concerning the operation of a landfill and recycling center. The water district argued that its approval and execution of the agreement did not constitute ap...