Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance, Inc. v. Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America
A California appellate court held that an insurance company has no duty to defend or indemnify a cosmetics company in an underlying action alleging that it violated Proposition 65, the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act. The Proposition 65 claim being asserted against the compa...
E-Z Mart Stores, Inc. v. Ronald Holland's A-Plus Transmission & Automotive, Inc.,
A Texas appellate court reversed and remanded a $550,019 judgment awarded to property owners in their suit against a neighboring convenience store for damages stemming from a leaking UST. The evidence was legally sufficient to show that the gasoline migrated from the store's property to the plai...
Ferris v. Location 3 Corp
A Wisconsin appellate court held that real estate agents may be held liable to the purchasers of their client's property for failing to disclose that a landfill next to the purchased property was a Superfund site. The purchasers learned that the landfill was a Superfund site shortly after closin...
Voices of the Wetlands v. State Water Resources Control Board
California's highest court upheld a regional water board's issuance of a NPDES permit authorizing a power plant to draw cooling water from an adjacent harbor and slough. An environmental group filed suit, claiming that the permit did not satisfy the "best technology available" requirement of CWA...
Secretary of Labor v. ConocoPhillips Bayway Refinery
The Third Circuit held that the Secretary of Labor need only demonstrate the possibility of exposure to asbestos that is substantially probable to lead to serious harm for purposes of classifying work standard violations as "serious." The Secretary had cited a company for nine "serious" violatio...