A New York intermediate appellate court has dismissed claims brought by a nonprofit for alleged violations of New York’s Environmental Rights Amendment, also called the Green Amendment. Fresh Air for the Eastside, Inc. v....more
As part of its ongoing climate policy and environmental justice efforts, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) recently issued policy guidance intended to ensure that the agency’s permitting...more
On October 5, 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a bill allowing public water suppliers to prosecute previously time-barred claims relating to emerging contaminants in their water supply wells. N.Y. CPLR 214-h...more
On November 2, 2021, New York State voters passed a ballot measure enshrining in the State Constitution the right to a “healthful environment.” The new “green amendment” or “Environmental Rights Amendment” (ERA) places New...more
On Thursday, July 8, 2021, New York’s Appellate Division (Third Department) overturned the Supreme Court (Albany) in a highly contested case challenging a Site Plan approval issued by the Planning Board of the Town of...more
On January 22, the New York State Department of Health (DOH) issued a revised notice of proposed rulemaking establishing aggressive standards on the presence of three emerging contaminants in drinking water. The proposed...more
On November 4, 2019, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a statute of limitations bill designed to make it easier for public water providers to file lawsuits relating to alleged contamination of their water supply...more
The New York State Assembly and Senate this week passed one of the most sweeping pieces of climate change legislation in the United States and beyond. Known as the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), the...more
The Vermont State legislature has enacted a bill designed to set strict limits on the presence of perfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) in drinking water....more
On December 18, the New York Drinking Water Quality Council recommended that the New York State Department of Health (DOH) adopt stringent new standards for the presence of three emerging contaminants in drinking water. The...more
At the end of August, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (“NJDEP”) issued guidance that allows volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”) released to groundwater to be left in place under certain circumstances;...more
A California appeals court has breathed new life into the public nuisance doctrine, largely affirming a more than $1 billion trial court judgment against certain manufacturers of lead paint on the grounds that they knowingly...more
President Trump’s recent budget proposal and a more detailed U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) memo regarding its implementation portend a potentially seismic shift in federal environmental priorities and programs....more
DC High Court Adopts Daubert Approach to Expert Testimony -
In a direct victory for mobile phone manufacturers and service providers, and with implications for any other case involving expert testimony in the District of...more
12/12/2016
/ Admissibility ,
Contamination ,
Daubert Standards ,
Drinking Water ,
Evidence ,
Expert Testimony ,
Manufacturers ,
Mobile Devices ,
Preemption ,
Take-Home Exposure ,
Toxic Exposure
In an immediate victory for mobile phone manufacturers and service providers, and with implications for any other case involving expert testimony in the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia’s highest court abandoned...more
California Appellate Court Upholds “Every Exposure” Theory -
Deferring to the role of a jury in resolving questions of competing scientific theories, a California appeals court upheld a trial court’s ruling allowing...more
In a case that may make it easier to prove causation in Maryland lead paint cases, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that neither direct evidence of the source of lead nor expert testimony was necessary when a trier of fact...more
In another development in the ongoing ammonium perfluorooctanoate (“C-8”) multidistrict litigation, a federal trial court in Ohio upheld an October 2015 jury verdict against E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (“DuPont”). ...more
Illustrating the limits on damages available to North Carolina landowners in toxic tort cases, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s order capping damages at the diminution in the value of the...more
In a decision highlighting a practical challenge in pursuing tort claims against some underground storage tank (“UST”) owners and operators, the Michigan Court of Appeals held that a trial court could nix a lawsuit stemming...more
In a decision that may make it more difficult to sustain medical monitoring claims in Pennsylvania, a federal district court dismissed as untimely a putative class action alleging workplace chemical exposure. Blanyar v....more
In a decision that may have implications in other cases related to alleged lead in drinking water, a District of Columbia trial court dismissed negligence and consumer protection claims against the District’s water utility,...more
In a case underscoring the importance of reliable methodologies in expert testimony, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld a trial court decision excluding specific causation testimony linking benzene...more
Underscoring the importance of pleading actual injury in a toxic tort class action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismissed Oklahoma class claims that were based only on “reasonable concern” of future injury...more
In a case that may make it easier to prove causation in Maryland lead paint cases, the Maryland Court of Appeals held that neither direct evidence of the source of lead nor expert testimony was necessary when a trier of fact...more