The court rules that attorney fees are available under §304(d) of the Clean Air Act to persons intervening in government enforcement actions only where the government is not diligently prosecuting the action. Appellant National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) had intervened in the federal enforcem...

The court holds that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 grants defendant access to land under plaintiff's control so that defendant may obtain soil samples for testing in connection with a claim for response costs pursuant to §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabi...

The court rules that actions of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Agriculture concerning sewage treatment construction grants fall under the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The banks had provided interim financing to the municipal...

The court holds that a National Park Service (NPS) ban on hunting and trapping in national parks and recreation areas does not violate either the Service's Organic Act or the Administrative Procedure Act. The court first rules that the National Rifle Association has standing to sue on behalf of tits...

The court holds that a private party may not sue independent third parties under §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act unless it has incurred its own response costs consistent with the national contingency plan. Parr-Richmond, defendant in a state court s...

The court rules that §107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act may be applied retroactively to acts committed prior to its enactment and that Missouri law extends long-arm jurisdiction to a foreign company that succeeded to the assets and liabilities of a Mis...

The court rules that an appeal from a district court judgment in a citizen suit action under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act is mooted by completion of the action demanded below. The court observes that since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the offshore oil drilling nati...

The court rules that §505 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act authorizes citizen suits by persons with economic interests to enforce construction schedules in national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permits. In a suit by land developers to speed construction of new sewage tre...

The court rules that the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) grants it nationwide service of process in a §106 abatement action, but that personal jurisdiction in a §104 cost recovery action is limited to that conferred by the long-arm statute of the stat...

The court rules that a cause of action in inverse condemnation is appropriate against a public entity even though that entity has no power to take by eminent domain, and that plaintiffs may treat airplane noise, smoke, and vibration as a continuing nuisance. In a suit brought by homeowners living ad...