Lexis Legal News : Mealey's Pollution Liability : Lawsuit Filings, Litigation, Settlements, Verdicts and Court News

Mealey's Pollution Liability

March 04, 2019
Insured’s Motion To Dismiss Umbrella Insurer’s Complaint In Pollution Dispute Denied

CLEVELAND — An insured city’s umbrella insurers are not necessary and indispensable parties in a suit filed by primary insurers seeking a declaration that their policies’ pollution exclusions bar coverage for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act because not all of the umbrella policies include pollution exclusions that are identical to the exclusions the primary policies, an Ohio federal judge said March 1 in denying the city’s motion to dismiss an intervenor’s complaint filed by one of the city’s umbrella insurers (National Fire Insurance of Hartford, et al. v. Willoughby, No. 17-1392, N.D. Ohio, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 33045).
March 01, 2019
Judge: Motion To Intervene In Groundwater Contamination Case Denied As Untimely

DETROIT — A federal judge in Michigan on Feb. 28 denied as untimely a motion to intervene in a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) action related to groundwater contamination, the remediation of which is already the subject of a consent decree between a state environmental agency and the company responsible for the contamination (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality v. Ford Motor Co., No. 17-12372, E.D. Mich., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31703).
February 28, 2019
9th Circuit Upholds Man’s Conviction For Violating Clean Water Act

SEATTLE — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 19 upheld a man’s conviction for one count of violating the Clean Water Act, holding that the government presented sufficient evidence showing that he was “fully aware” that a vessel he owned was discharging illegal amounts of oil (United States v. Bingham Fox, No. 17-30147, 9th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 4786)
February 26, 2019
Insured Says Coverage Owed For Gasoline Released From Alabama Pipeline

ATLANTA — An insured claims in a Feb. 13 complaint filed in Georgia federal court that its insurer breached its contract in denying coverage under a pollution liability policy for clean-up costs and damages incurred as a result of the release of gasoline from one of the insured’s pipelines (Colonial Pipeline Co. v. AIG Specialty Insurance Co., No. 19-762, N.D. Ga.).
February 22, 2019
5th Circuit Upholds Dismissal Of Oil Spill Claimants’ Suit

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 18 found that a federal judge in Louisiana did not err when dismissing a lawsuit brought by two claimants seeking economic losses caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April 2010, holding that the plaintiffs released their claims after obtaining payouts from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) (In re: Deepwater Horizon, No. 17-30921, 5th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 4734).
February 21, 2019
Debtors Battle Oregon Agency Over Cleanup Costs, Though Settlement Eyed

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina federal bankruptcy court erred in finding that Chapter 11 debtors Kaiser Gypsum Co. Inc. and Hanson Permanente Cement Inc. are not protected by the automatic stay from environmental cleanup cost state court settlement judgments, the debtors argue Feb. 4 in their opening appeal brief in federal court (Kaiser Gypsum Company, Inc., et al. v. Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, No. 3:18-cv-507, W.D. N.C.).
February 20, 2019
Baltimore Sues Monsanto, Says Company Liable For PCB Contaminated Stormwater

BALTIMORE — The mayor and City Council of Baltimore on Feb. 19 sued Monsanto Co. and its subsidiaries in Maryland federal court, claiming that the companies are liable for contaminating stormwater and bodies of water in the state with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Monsanto Co., et al., No. 19-cv-00483, D. Md.).
February 20, 2019
Judge Finds No Traceability To Injuries In Climate Change Suit

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania on Feb. 19 dismissed a lawsuit brought by two minor plaintiffs and an environmental group accusing President Donald Trump and other government officials of contributing to climate change by rolling back environmental regulations, holding that the plaintiffs cannot trace their alleged injuries to the defendants’ actions and that they failed to state claims upon which relief can be granted (Clean Air Council v. United States, et al., No. 17-4977, E.D. Pa., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25801).
February 20, 2019
Judge Says Gas Company Expert Can Testify On Aerial Photographs Of Mines

PRESCOTT, Ariz. — A federal judge in Arizona on Feb. 19 ruled that an expert for a gas company seeking contribution and cost recovery under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act from the federal government, U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the cleanup of 19 uranium mines on the Navajo Reservation can proffer testimony based on aerial photographs of the site, ruling that his methodology was reliable and that any challenges to the weight of his testimony can be challenged at trial (El Paso Natural Gas Co. LLC v. United States, No. CV-14-08165-PCT-DGC, D. Ariz., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26054).
February 19, 2019
U.S. Supreme Court Will Review 9th Circuit’s Clean Water Act Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 19 granted in part a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that upheld a summary judgment award to five environmental groups that accused the county of Maui of violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) when discharging pollutants from its wells into the Pacific Ocean, but limited its review to whether the act requires a permit when pollutants originate from a point source but are conveyed to navigable waters by a nonpoint source, such as groundwater (County of Maui v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al., No. 18-260, U.S. Sup.).
February 15, 2019
Insured’s Declaratory Judgment Claim Stands In Environmental Coverage Dispute

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Feb. 6 refused to dismiss an insured’s declaratory judgment claim in an environmental contamination coverage dispute after determining that the insured has presented an actual controversy warranting the court’s jurisdiction over the claim (Whittaker Corp. v. AIG Specialty Insurance Co., No. 18-8453, C.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23744).
February 14, 2019
Judge: Union Pacific Not Liable For Cleanup Of Former Wood Treatment Site

TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington on Feb. 7 found that Union Pacific Railroad Co. was not liable under the Washington Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) for contamination at a former wood treatment site, holding that it was not an operator under the act and that the current owner of the property accepted responsibility for cleanup of the site through agreed orders with the Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) (Port of Ridgefield v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., No. CV14-6024RBL, W.D. Wash., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20229).
February 12, 2019
Judge Finds Owner’s Takings Clause Action Over Contaminated Site Untimely

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal claims court judge on Feb. 8 ruled that the court lacked jurisdiction over a suit brought by the current owner of a Superfund site in Pennsylvania against the federal government under the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because the action was barred by the six-year statute of limitations (Whiteland Holdings L.P., et al. v. United States, No. 18-1081L, Fed. Clms., 2019 U.S. Claims LEXIS 56).
February 12, 2019
Denial Of Furniture Company’s Oil Spill Claim Upheld By 5th Circuit

NEW ORLEANS — A furniture company’s request for damages under the Business and Economic Loss framework of the Deepwater Horizon Economic and Property Damages Settlement Agreement was upheld Feb. 8 by a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel that found that a federal judge in Louisiana did not err when denying review of the company’s claim because it was given ample opportunities to submit customer information (Claimant ID 100261758 v. BP Exploration & Production Inc., et al., No. 18-30173, 5th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 3999).
February 12, 2019
5th Circuit Tells Judge To Determine If Management Fees Are Fixed Costs

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 8 ordered the federal judge in Louisiana presiding over the multidistrict litigation court for suits over damages caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig to review an appeal brought by BP Exploration & Production Inc. over a finding that management fees paid by a claimant to its parent company are a fixed fee that should not be deducted from its variable income (BP Exploration & Production Inc. v. Claimant Id 100185315, No. 18-30331, 5th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 4007).
February 12, 2019
Biodiesel Fuel Maker Ordered To Pay $100,000 For 45,000-Gallon Spill

NEWARK, N.J. — A federal judge in New Jersey on Feb. 7 ordered a biodiesel fuel maker to pay $100,000 for one count of violating the Clean Water Act (CWA) and sentenced it to five years of probation after it pleaded guilty to discharging 45,000 gallons of wastewater into a waterway separating New Jersey from Staten Island, N.Y. (United States v. Fuel Bio One LLC, No. 18cr335, D. N.J.).
February 07, 2019
Denial Of Vein Clinic’s Oil Spill Settlement Claim Upheld By 5th Circuit

NEW ORLEANS — A Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 6 affirmed the denial of an Alabama vein clinic’s claim for business and economic loss under the Deepwater Horizon Economic and Property Damages Settlement Agreement, finding that the Court Supervised Settlement Program (CSSP) claims administrator did not err when finding that the clinic’s customer mix data did not support a showing that it lost revenue as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that followed the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in April 2010 (Claimant ID 100187576 v. BP Exploration & Production Inc., No. 18-30491, 5th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 3721)
February 07, 2019
Judge Enters Final Judgment Dismissing CERCLA Claims As Untimely

LOS ANGELES — A federal judge in California on Feb. 4 entered final judgment in favor of defendants in a lawsuit over the remediation of contamination at the Omega Chemical Superfund site in California, finding that the plaintiffs’ requests for contribution and declaratory judgment under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) are barred by the statute of limitations (Arconic Inc., et al. v. APC Investment Co., et al., No. 14-6456, C.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17664).
February 06, 2019
BP Wins Summary Judgment In Suit Claiming Exposure To Dispersants Caused Injuries

NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana on Feb. 4 awarded summary judgment to BP Exploration & Production Inc. in a suit brought by a man who claimed exposure to dispersants during cleanup of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig caused him to develop chronic conjunctivitis, sinusitis and other injuries, finding that the plaintiff failed to present any evidence on medical causation (Melvin Banegas v. BP Exploration & Production Inc., et al., No. 17-7429, E.D. La., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17353).
February 04, 2019
Judge Stays Case Over Landfill’s Discharges, Allows Group To Take Samples

TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington on Jan. 31 stayed a lawsuit brought by an environmental group against the owners of a landfill over discharges of storm water that allegedly violate the Clean Water Act so the defendant companies could work with the Washington Department of Ecology to resolve uncertainties about the companies’ National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits (Puget Soundkeeper Alliance v. Pierce County Recycling, Composting & Disposal LLC, et al., No. C17-5731 BHS, W.D. Wash., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15736).