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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • April 18, 2024

    Wash. Federal Judge Won’t Reconsider Order Denying Cultural Damages Under CERCLA

    SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington federal judge denied a motion to reconsider an order holding that the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation are not entitled to cultural resource damages arising from a smelter’s alleged disposal of millions of tons of toxic slag and liquid effluent into the Columbia River because such damages are not available under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (Joseph Pakootas, et al. v. Teck Cominco Metals Ltd., No. 04-256, E.D. Wash., 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65842).

  • April 17, 2024

    Panel Partially Affirms, Reverses Damages Ruling In Water Contamination Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s damages award, holding that it did not abuse its discretion when it permitted a water agency to assert restoration costs as a measure of damages related to contamination from various chemicals, but it remanded the case to amend the judgment regarding recovery of damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), ruling that the trial court wrongly held that the water agency received a double recovery.

  • April 17, 2024

    Government Can’t ‘Escape Responsibility’ For AFFF Pollution, Plaintiffs Say

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — The plaintiffs in five cases pending in the multidistrict litigation for the firefighting agent aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) filed a combined brief in South Carolina federal court on April 16 in opposition to a motion to dismiss, arguing that the U.S. government, as the owner of the land on which the “heavily contaminated” Cannon Air Force Base (CAFB) sits, “cannot be permitted to escape responsibility on jurisdictional grounds when the conduct of its employees, on its land, pollutes or otherwise harms its neighbors.”

  • April 16, 2024

    4th Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment Order In Dispute Over Coal Mine Reclamation

    RICHMOND, Va. — A Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 15 affirmed a trial court’s order holding that the cabinet secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) is entitled to summary judgment on claims originating from reclamation activities performed by the agency at a property where coal mining occurred.

  • April 15, 2024

    Pipeline Operators, Property Owners Agree To Settle Oil Spill Claims For $70M

    LOS ANGELES — In California federal court, two companies that formerly operated an oil pipeline that ruptured and contaminated residential property in southern California filed a motion for preliminary approval of a class action settlement that would see the companies pay $70 million to property owners who were affected by the rupture.

  • April 15, 2024

    Nation’s Largest Homebuilder Agrees To Pay Penalty To Settle Clean Water Act Claims

    BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The nation’s largest homebuilder, alongside the United States, Alabama and the South Carolina Department of Health, jointly filed a consent decree in Alabama federal court that will see the homebuilder pay $400,000 to resolve Clean Water Act (CWA) claims brought against it for its alleged discharge of pollutants in stormwater from its construction sites.

  • April 11, 2024

    D.C. Circuit: Commerce Clause Allows EPA To Waive CAA Regulations For California

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency has the right to waive Clean Air Act (CAA) standards for new automobile emissions as they apply to California because the powers granted to Congress by the U.S. Constitution allow it to treat states differently when enacting legislation that affects interstate commerce, a District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found in denying petitions review filed by several states.

  • April 10, 2024

    N.M. Federal Judge Stays Gold Mine Litigation Between Navajo Nation And Contractor

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge stayed litigation between a government contractor and the Navajo Nation after the parties announced in a joint motion that they had reached a settlement in principle to resolve the tribe’s claims arising from the contractor’s alleged involvement in the Gold King Mine release, which contaminated large portions of tribal land.

  • April 10, 2024

    Illinois Federal Judge Dismisses Claims In Dispute Over Natural Gas Release

    CHICAGO — A homeowning couple who brought a class action complaint against an Illinois public utility, its parent company and a public relations firm over the three companies’ involvement in releasing natural gas into a large underground aquifer failed to sufficiently plead several of their claims, including those brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), an Illinois federal judge found in partly granting the companies’ motion to dismiss.

  • April 10, 2024

    Software Developer Is Immune In Clean Air Act Dispute Arising From Defeat Devices

    NEW YORK — The developers of a software tool that is used to reprogram car computer systems are entitled to immunity under the Communications Decency Act from a Clean Air Act (CAA) claim brought against them by the United States because the government failed to allege that they developed any software that could be used to defeat vehicle emissions controls, a New York federal judge found in partly granting the developers’ motion to dismiss.

  • April 09, 2024

    Norfolk Southern To Pay $600M To Settle Ohio Train Derailment Litigation

    YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio — Norfolk Southern Railway Co. and Norfolk Southern Corp. (Norfolk Southern collectively) and the plaintiffs suing them filed notice in Ohio federal court on April 9 indicating that they have reached a $600 million agreement in principle to resolve the class action pertaining to alleged injuries from the release of toxic chemicals in the 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio; a third-party lawsuit among Norfolk Southern and railcar companies continues.

  • April 09, 2024

    Insureds Say Remand In Pollution Dispute Is Necessary, Appeal Is Premature

    SAN FRANCISCO — Insureds involved in an environmental contamination coverage suit urge the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to remand its suit to the district court, contending that the insurer’s notice of appeal was premature because the district court did not rule on the insureds’ motion to alter or amend the judgment entered in favor of the insureds on the applicability of the pollution exclusion.

  • April 08, 2024

    CERCLA’s Petroleum Exclusion Creates Fact Questions About ‘Covered Persons’ Status

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — The question of whether three oil companies are “covered persons” under the Comprehensive Environmental, Response, Compensation, and Liability Act cannot be decided at this stage because the companies’ potential liability may be barred by CERCLA’s petroleum exclusion, an Illinois federal judge found in partly denying partial summary judgment to the operator of a refinery where contamination has been identified.

  • April 08, 2024

    Minn. Federal Judge Grants Summary Judgment Against Tribes In Water Quality Dispute

    MINNEAPOLIS — Two federally recognized Indian tribes in Minnesota are not entitled to summary judgment on their claims that the Environmental Protection Agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by approving revisions to Minnesota’s water quality standards because the agency’s decisions were based on scientific data and analysis.

  • April 05, 2024

    Parties Request Final Judgment In Environmental Disparate Impact Dispute

    LAKE CHARLES, La. — Louisiana, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requested an entry of final judgment after a Louisiana federal judge found, in partly granting Louisiana’s motion for a preliminary judgment, that the state showed that it would be irreparably harmed if its environmental agencies were required to perform disparate impact and cumulative impact analysis for their environmental grant and permitting decisions.

  • April 04, 2024

    Insurer Says District Court Properly Found Coverage Is Barred For Cleanup Costs

    ATLANTA — A district court’s ruling that no coverage is owed to an insured for contamination cleanup costs caused by the release of petroleum and other contaminants from an underground storage tank at a gas station must be affirmed because the district court correctly found that the claim for contamination cleanup costs incepted prior to the issuance of the policy and is, therefore, barred from coverage, the insurer says in its appellee brief filed in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeal.

  • April 01, 2024

    Illinois Law Applies In Environmental Contamination Coverage Dispute, Judge Says

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Illinois law must be applied in an environmental contamination coverage dispute because Illinois has a more “substantial interest” in the resolution of the coverage dispute arising out of the insureds’ obligations for remediation costs related to a Superfund site located in Illinois than does the commonwealth of Massachusetts, the location where some of the policies were issued, an Illinois federal judge said March 29 in granting the insureds’ motion to apply Illinois law and in denying the insurers’ motion to apply Massachusetts law.

  • March 28, 2024

    California Federal Judge Grants Interim Attorney Fees In Clean Water Act Dispute

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — An environmental organization is entitled to a reasonable amount of interim attorney fees under the Clean Water Act (CWA) because it was a prevailing party in a partial summary judgment order in which two cities were found to have violated the CWA by discharging bacteria pollution from their stormwater sewer systems, a California federal judge found in granting the organization’s motion for interim fees.

  • March 27, 2024

    Diverting Stream Violated State Law Protecting Wetlands, Michigan Panel Rules

    DETROIT — A trial court did not err in finding that a man violated state environmental laws by diverting a stream to build a pond on his property because the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) presented sufficient evidence to show that the wetlands affected by the diversion were protected, a Michigan panel found in affirming the trial court’s judgment.

  • March 26, 2024

    Federal Jury Finds That Companies Were Both Negligent In Liquid Mercury Spill

    PITTSBURGH — A transportation company and a recycling company were equally negligent in causing a shipment of liquid mercury to spill and cause environmental damage, a Pennsylvania federal jury said in a verdict returned after a three-day trial.

  • March 26, 2024

    Wash. Panel: Stormwater Permit Applies To Entirety Of Transportation Facilities

    SEATTLE — A state administrative hearing board erred in finding that a general industrial stormwater permit did not apply to the entirety of transportation facilities that are subject to regulation under the permit because the board relied on language from similar federal regulations that was not present in the permit, a Washington appeals court panel found in reversing the board’s decision.

  • March 25, 2024

    Ill. Federal Judge Refuses To Disqualify Attorneys Retained By City In PCB Dispute

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Attorneys retained by East St. Louis should not be disqualified for signing contingency fee agreements in a case brought against Monsanto Co. for its alleged contamination of city property with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) because safeguards in the agreements ensure that the city retains decision-making power over the litigation, an Illinois federal judge found in denying the company’s motion to disqualify.

  • March 21, 2024

    Illinois Federal Judge Remands PCB Contamination Dispute To State Court

    CHICAGO — A dispute over whether Monsanto and one of its distributors are liable for damages allegedly caused by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the storm sewer systems of several northern Illinois municipalities should be heard in state court because diversity, federal enclave and federal question jurisdiction do not exist, an Illinois federal judge found in granting the municipalities’ motion to remand.

  • March 21, 2024

    Prior Consent Decree Moots Trade Union’s Request To Review Incinerator Standards

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency cannot be compelled to review certain emissions standards for solid-waste incinerators because that issue was decided in a prior consent decree covering the same standards, a District of Columbia federal judge found in granting, without prejudice, the agency’s motion to dismiss a complaint filed by a trade union.

  • March 19, 2024

    In Toxic Landfill Case, N.Y. Federal Judge Partly Grants Summary Judgment Motion

    BUFFALO, N.Y. — Summary judgment is not appropriate for personal injury claims brought by a group of residents of North Tonawanda, N.Y., who allege that they were affected by toxic substances at a landfill in Wheatfield, N.Y., because the residents were not given the opportunity to present expert witness reports regarding their injuries, a New York federal judge found in partly granting a motion for summary judgment filed by Wheatfield and a group of companies that allegedly contributed to pollution at the landfill.