The court holds that Tennessee statutes of limitations bar claims by electric utility boards for damages suffered as a result of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in equipment purchased from defendants more than 10 years prior to suit. The court first holds that the three-year Tennesse statute of lim...

The court clarifies aspects of its earlier decision that generally upheld the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) effluent limitations for the organic chemicals, plastics, and synthetic fibers industries. The court first clarifies its prior holding r...

The court holds that it lacks subject matter jurisdiction over a developer's action seeking preenforcement judicial review of the Army Corps of Engineers' assertion of wetlands jurisdiction in a cease and desist order under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA). The court first holds that ...

The court holds that purchasers of a hazardous waste site are not liable to the seller for response costs or contribution under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) because liability attaches only to the seller who owned and operated the site when the co...

The court rules that the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act's (RCRA's) domestic sewage exclusion applies only to waste from private residences, not to factory wastes that mix with sewage. Plaintiffs brought this action under RCRA's citizen suit provision, alleging that industrial waste discharge...

The court holds that citizens' good-faith allegations of 43 separate Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA) violations, and substantial evidence demonstrating a reasonable likelihood of recurring violations, justify a civil penalty of $1,000 per day, rather than the maximum $10,000 per day pena...

The court holds that in a private cost recovery action under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107, a release or threatened release must cause the incurrence of response costs, but it is not necessary to prove physical migration of the contaminants. The...

The court denies a motion for rehearing of its original opinion. The court holds that an objective standard applies under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act §107 in determining whether a release or threatened release has caused the incurrence of response costs.
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The court holds that plaintiffs proved ongoing violations at the time this Federal Water Pollution Control Act citizen suit was brought, but ongoing violations must be established for each permit parameter and not merely for the permit as a whole. The court first holds that the district court proper...

Relying on a state supreme court response to a certified question, the court denies an insurance company's motion for declaratory judgment of its obligation under a pollution exclusion clause of a comprehensive general liability policy. In an appendix to the court's decision, the Georgia Supreme Cou...