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Mealey's Pollution Liability

  • November 26, 2018

    Judge Certifies Ruling In Youths’ Climate Change Suit, Stays Case Pending Appeal

    EUGENE, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon on Nov. 21 stayed a lawsuit brought by a number of youths over the government’s knowledge about the burning of fossil fuels and climate change pending the decision by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as to whether the judge erred when denying the government’s motion to dismiss the action (Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana, et al. v. United States, et al., No. 15-cv-01517, D. Ore.).

  • November 26, 2018

    No Coverage Owed Under Excess Policies For Insured’s Remediation Costs, Judge Says

    NEW YORK — An insured seeking coverage for environmental remediation costs is not entitled to coverage under excess policies because the costs, when allocated on a pro rata basis over a 40-year period, do not reach the attachments points of the excess policies, a New York federal judge said Nov. 24 (Olin Corp. v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London, et al., No. 18-8197, S.D. N.Y., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 199079).

  • November 16, 2018

    Contamination Coverage Suit To Be Litigated In Missouri Rather Than North Carolina

    CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An insurer’s suit filed in North Carolina federal court and seeking a declaration that no coverage is owed to an insured for more than $3 million in environmental remediation costs must be dismissed because the dispute can be litigated in Missouri federal court where the insured’s suit against the insurer is pending, a North Carolina federal judge said Nov. 15 (Great American E&S Insurance Co. v. Butterball LLC, No. 18-113, E.D. N.C., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 194871).

  • November 13, 2018

    City Tells 2nd Circuit To Reverse Dismissal Of Climate Change Suit

    NEW YORK — New York City says in a Nov. 8 brief filed in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a federal judge’s ruling dismissing its suit against five producers of fossil fuels over climate change should be reversed because the court can provide remedies for local harms stemming from the defendants’ alleged nuisance and trespass (City of New York v. BP PLC, et al., No. 18-2188, 2nd Cir.).

  • November 9, 2018

    Judge: Group Lacks Standing To Seek Submission Of Greenhouse Gas Report

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia on Nov. 8 dismissed without prejudice a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) against the U.S. Department of State and its acting secretary John J. Sullivan that seeks to require the department to submit and disclose two greenhouse gas concentration reports required by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), finding that the organization lacked standing (Center of Biological Diversity v. United States Department of State, et al., No. 18-563 D. D.C., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 191073)

  • November 9, 2018

    9th Circuit Stays Climate Change Suit Pending Resolution Of Government’s Petition

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 8 stayed proceedings in a lawsuit brought by youths claiming that the government failed to implement policies to protect against climate change, finding that the government’s third petition for a writ of mandamus “raises issues that warrant an answer” (In re:  United States of America, No. 18-73014, 9th Cir.).

  • November 8, 2018

    Government Files 3rd Petition For Mandamus Relief In Climate Change Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — The federal government on Nov. 5 filed in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals its third petition seeking a writ of mandamus in a suit brought by a number of youths accusing the government of failing to inform the public that it knew about the association between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change but failed to implement any policies to prevent the environment (In re:  United States, No. 18-73014, 9th Cir.).

  • November 8, 2018

    Government Asks Federal Judge To Reconsider Ruling In Youths’ Climate Change Suit

    EUGENE, Ore.— The federal government on Nov. 5 asked a federal judge in Oregon to reconsider her ruling refusing to certify for interlocutory appeal a decision denying its motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by a number of youths over climate change, citing a Nov. 2 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that denied its motion to stay the suit (Kelsey Cascadia Rose Juliana, et al. v. United States, et al., No. 15-cv-01517, D. Ore.).

  • November 8, 2018

    New Jersey Appeals Panel Upholds Penalty Imposed For Groundwater Contamination

    TRENTON, N.J. — A New Jersey appeals court panel on Oct. 17 affirmed a $66,200 civil penalty imposed by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) against a shopping center owner accused of violating the New Jersey Industrial Site Recovery Act (ISRA) and Site Remediation Reform Act (SSRA), finding that the agency could impose penalties under the statutes despite not proving that the spill of occurred after 1977 (New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Site Remediation Compliance and Enforcement v. Raritan Shopping Center, No. A-1150-16T1, N.J. Super., App. Div., 2018 N.J. Unpub. LEXIS 2291).

  • November 6, 2018

    Ohio High Court Denies Review In Treatment Plant Construction Dispute

    COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court on Oct. 24 denied an insured’s petition seeking review of a trial court’s ruling in favor of insurers involved in an environmental contamination dispute arising out of the insured’s construction of a treatment plant to prevent the discharge of acid water from a mine (Bellaire Corp. v. American Empire Surplus Lines Insurance Co., et al., No. 2018-1159, Ohio Sup., 2018 Ohio LEXIS 2513).

  • November 6, 2018

    Shipping Company Pleads Guilty To Discharges, Agrees To Pay $3.2M Penalty

    PORTLAND, Maine — A German shipping company pleaded guilty on Nov. 2 in Louisiana federal court to charges of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice for illegally discharging bilge oil from one of its ships over a nine-month period and agreed to pay a $3.2 million civil penalty (United States v. MST Mineralien Schiffahrt Spedition Und Transport GMBH, No. 17cr117, D. Maine).

  • November 5, 2018

    U.S. Supreme Court Lifts Stay Of Youths’ Climate Change Lawsuit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A 7-2 U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 2 lifted Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.’s Oct. 19 stay of a lawsuit brought by 21 youths accusing the government of withholding information about the relationship between burning fossil fuels and climate change, finding that any relief sought by the government can be obtained through the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals (In re:  United States, No. 18A410, U.S. Sup., 2018 U.S. LEXIS 6514).

  • November 5, 2018

    Opinions On Harms Suitable For Trial In Clean Air Act Case, Judge Rules

    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — An expert’s opinions on the human harms caused by an Illinois power plant’s violations of the Clean Air Act (CAA) should be vetted at a trial slated to determine the remedies to be imposed on the plant, a federal judge decided Nov. 2 in denying a bid to exclude the expert’s testimony (Natural Resources Defense Council, et al. v. Illinois Power Resources Generating, LLC, No. 13-cv-1181, C.D. Ill., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187612).

  • November 1, 2018

    Judge Clarifies Ruling About Agency’s Prosecution Of Clean Water Act Violations

    WORCESTER, Mass. — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Oct. 31 clarified an earlier ruling in which he granted in part a motion for summary judgment filed by defendants accused of violating the Clean Water Act (CWA), explaining that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is diligently prosecuting claims that a development is violating a comparable state law (Blackstone Headwaters Coalition Inc. v. Gallo Builders Inc., et al., No. 16-40053, D. Mass., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186121).

  • October 31, 2018

    Natural Gas Processing Plant To Pay $7.2M To Resolve Excessive Emissions

    CHICAGO — The owner of the largest natural gas processing facility in the United States on Oct. 29 agreed to pay a $2.7 million civil penalty and spend $4.5 million on improvements to its pollution controls to resolve allegations brought by the federal government in Illinois federal court that it violated the Clean Air Act (CAA) (United States v. Aux Sable Liquid Products LP, No. 18cv7198, N.D. Ill.).

  • October 30, 2018

    Groups Ask 6th Circuit For Rehearing Of Clean Water Act Ruling

    CINCINNATI — Two environmental groups in an Oct. 22 petition ask the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals for an en banc rehearing of a case in which they claim that the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by discharging coal ash waste from its wastewater treatment system that reached navigable waterways through groundwater (Tennessee Clean Water Network, et al. v. Tennessee Valley Authority, No. 17-6155, 6th Cir.).

  • October 29, 2018

    Railroad Company Properly Joined To Clean Water Act Suit, Magistrate Rules

    PITTSBURGH — A federal magistrate judge in Pennsylvania on Oct. 26 denied Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad Inc.’s (BPRR) motion seeking dismissal of a Clean Water Act (CWA) lawsuit brought by two environmental groups, finding that it is a properly joined party because it has right of way access to land that may need to be remediated (PennEnvironment, et al. v. PPG Industries Inc., et al., No. 12-342, W.D. Pa., 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183752).

  • October 25, 2018

    5th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Unsigned Oil Spill Lawsuits

    NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 18 affirmed the dismissal of lawsuits brought by 104 plaintiffs seeking damages stemming from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig on April 20, 2010, finding that they failed to show why they could not submit signed copies of the complaints in compliance with pretrial order 60 (PTO 60) (In re Deepwater Horizon, No. 17-30122, 5th Cir., 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 29408).

  • October 23, 2018

    Youths Say Allowing Climate Change Trial To Proceed Would Not Harm Government

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A group of young plaintiffs claiming that the government withheld its knowledge about the relationship between the burning of fossil fuels and climate change told the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 22 that it should not stay the case pending a decision on the government’s petition for a writ of mandamus because the government would not suffer any irreparable harm that cannot be corrected after trial (In re:  United States of America, No. 18A410, U.S. Sup.).

  • October 23, 2018

    Insured’s Untimely Notice Of Environmental Claims Was Prejudicial To Insurer

    INDIANAPOLIS — The majority of the Indiana Court of Appeals on Oct. 18 affirmed a summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer, agreeing with the trial court’s determination that the insured’s untimely notice of environmental claims filed against it was prejudicial to the insurer (Franke Plating Works v. Cincinnati Insurance Co., No. 49A02-1710-PL-2462, Ind. App., 2018 Ind. App. LEXIS 378).