The D.C. Circuit held that building and development associations lacked standing to challenge consent decrees that require FWS to determine, in accordance with a settlement-defined schedule, whether 251 species should be listed as endangered or threatened under the ESA. The case arose after environm...

The D.C. Circuit held that a home builders' association lacked standing to challenge EPA's and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' determination that two reaches of the Santa Cruz River in southern Arizona constitute "traditional navigable waters" (TNW) under the CWA. The court previously held in a si...

The Federal Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing on jurisdictional grounds a landowner's Fifth Amendment takings claim against the government in connection with a CWA permit denial. The lower court held that the complaint was barred by 28 U.S.C. §1500, which prohibits the U.S. Court of ...

The Fifth Circuit held that parties to the class action settlement agreement concerning economic and property damages stemming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may seek appellate review of district court decisions on individual claims. The district court had approved final rules governing discre...

A district court held that trade associations and nonprofit corporations representing members of the timber industry lack standing to challenge the Forest Service's 2012 planning rule governing development of individual land and resource management plans for the 155 national forests and 20 national ...

A district court dismissed a town's Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention and Response Act claim against the corporate spinoffs of Old Monsanto, the sole manufacturer of PCBs in the United States between 1935 and 1979. After discovering PCBs in some of the area schools, the tow...

The Texas Supreme Court reinstated a jury verdict in favor of a waste disposal facility in a trespass case filed against it by a neighboring rice farm. At trial, the farm argued that deep subsurface wastewater from the facility trespassed beneath its property, but the jury returned a verdict in the ...