The court holds that a logging company's takings claims against the United States, based on the temporary prohibition of logging due to an injunction entered by an Oregon court, were properly dismissed for failure to state a claim. The injunction prohibited the company from logging its property with...

The court holds that California's Proposition 4, which bans the use of certain traps and poisons to capture or kill wildlife in the state, is preempted by the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the National Wildlife Refuge Systems Improvement Act (NWRSIA). An environmental group brought suit against t...

The court reverses a district court dismissal of a property owner's claims of retaliation and denial of equal protection and due process against a county that imposed conditions, delays, and fees in connection with the owner's application for a polo field and residential building permit. The distric...

The Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that federal law preempts conflicting state pipeline regulations and, thus, governs the upgrade of a natural gas pipeline in Iowa. Iowa Code Chapter 479A and its implementing provisions, which provide for various pipeline reporting and inspection re...

The Ninth Circuit held that a 2007 voter-approved initiative that overturned a 2004 initiative giving property owners relief from development restrictions under Oregon land-use laws, or payment for the lost value of their land, did not violate the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Waivers gr...

The court upholds the Secretary of Energy's interpretation of the term "provide for" within a provision of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act that entitles states and regional radioactive-waste disposal compacts to a rebate of their waste disposal surcharges. Plaintiff regional co...

The court dismisses a property owner's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), and state common-law claims against prior owners of the property and a state agency for r...

The court affirms in part and reverses in part a district court decision holding that environmental groups could bring False Claims Act (FCA) claims against contractors at a Superfund site in Arkansas. In a qui tam action brought on behalf of the United States, environmental groups allege that the c...

The court holds that the political question doctrine does not bar a federal court from resolving landowners' suits alleging that a state-managed fish pass significantly contributed to beach erosion on their property. The court first holds that the landowners' claims for injunctive relief and damages...

The court holds that a district court erred in ruling that Florida is entitled to Eleventh Amendment immunity in a limitation of liability proceeding, but it correctly dismissed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and Florida Pollution Discharge Prevention Act claims brought against the owners of th...