Residential Real Estate, Civil Procedure, Environmental Law

Appeal Court Confirms That Innocent Party Must Clean Up Pollution

by Jack Coop, Jennifer Fairfax, Daniel Kirby, Paul Morassutti, Lindsay Rauccio, Patrick Welsh | Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on 5/13/2013

In a decision in Kawartha Lakes (City) v. Ontario (Environment), on May 10, 2013, the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the appeal of the City of Kawartha Lakes (the City), which sought to overturn a decision of...more

Housing Development With Optional Retail Component Qualifies For CEQA Exemption For Residential Projects Consistent With...

by Jon E. Goetz, Jeffrey L. Massey, Leslie Z. Walker | Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on 4/24/2013

A group of citizens challenged a city’s determination that a proposed residential development qualifies for an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) as a residential project that is consistent with...more

Abolishment of Limitation Periods for Contaminated Sites in BC Put on Hold

by Wally Braul, Laura Gill, Michael Theroux | Bennett Jones LLP on 4/23/2013

In 2012, the government of B.C. passed legislation that would eliminate any limitation period previously applicable to actions to recover the costs of environmental remediation under the Environmental Management Act, S.B.C....more

Residential Project Exempt From CEQA Review Under Government Code Section 65457 As Consistent With Specific Plan For Which Program...

by Arthur F. Coon | Miller Starr Regalia on 4/11/2013

In a recently published opinion construing Government Code § 65457’s exemption from environmental review for a residential development consistent with a specific plan for which an EIR was previously certified, the First...more

New Significance Standard For Greenhouse Gas Emissions Is Not New Information Triggering Supplemental CEQA Review

by Marc Bruner, Stephen Kostka | Perkins Coie on 4/3/2013

In an opinion published on March 28, 2013, a California court of appeal answered three questions under the California Environmental Quality Act that the published decisions have not yet addressed...more

Sudden and Accidental Pollution in Massachusetts — Not Always Fatal To Coverage

by Robert S. Sanoff | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 2/22/2013

In some jurisdictions, an environmental claim under a liability policy with a “sudden and accidental” pollution exclusion has the same prospect of success as a due process claim under the strict scrutiny standard — strict in...more

Are Courts Actively Limiting CEQA’s Scope In The Absence Of Meaningful Legislative Reform?*

by Arthur F. Coon | Miller Starr Regalia on 2/6/2013

While no California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) reform was achieved by the California Legislature in its last session, Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg has indicated in a recently-issued statement that it...more

First Circuit Affirms Pro-Rata Damages Verdict in Boston Gas

by Choate Hall & Stewart LLP on 1/29/2013

What you need to know: The US First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s pro-rata, time-on-the-risk allocation of damages from environmental contamination in the long-running Boston Gas case. The court...more

DISPUTE RESOLUTION: Business Litigation Important Texas Water Rights Case Could Affect Oil & Gas Activities as Well by Brannon...

by King & Spalding on 1/18/2013

The Texas Supreme Court recently issued an important decision on a groundwater rights question that had gone unanswered for more than a century. In Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, the Court held that Texas property owners...more

CEQA Year In Review 2012

by Marc Bruner, Julie Jones, Stephen Kostka, Geoffrey Robinson, Barbara Schussman | Perkins Coie on 1/3/2013

In This Issue: - Project Approvals Triggering CEQA ..Chung v City of Monterey Park (2012) 210 CA4th 394 ..Tuolumne Jobs and Small Business Alliance v Superior Court) 210 CA4th 1006 (petition for review pending,...more

Supreme Court Case Involving CEQA’s “Unusual Circumstances” Exception to Categorical Exemptions Now Fully Briefed by Parties;...

by Arthur F. Coon | Miller Starr Regalia on 12/17/2012

The Respondent City of Berkeley and Real Parties (Kapors) filed their joint Reply Brief on the Merits in the California Supreme Court in a much-watched categorical exemption case, Berkeley Hillside Preservation, et al. v....more

West Virginia Surface Owners May Not Appeal Gas Well Permits

by Christopher "Kip" B. Power, Robert Stonestreet | Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on 11/27/2012

As reported on September 27, 2012, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals was recently presented with a certified question concerning whether surface rights owners may bring a court action to challenge gas well drilling...more

How Much Uncertainty Does CEQA Allow? Court Upholds EIR's Practical Approach for Evaluating Uncertain Cumulative Impacts, but...

by Perkins Coie on 11/6/2012

In Preserve Wild Santee v. City of Santee, the court immersed itself in an EIR’s evaluation of the impacts of a large residential project proposing 1,395 homes and 1,400 acres of open space preserve. The court upheld the...more

Court Addresses Surface Owner Appeal Rights Involving Marcellus Shale Gas Wells

by Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on 9/28/2012

On September 25, 2012, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals entertained oral arguments in the case of James Martin, Director v. Matthew L. Hamblet, Docket No. 11-1157. This appeal arises from a ruling issued by the...more

PACE Fights Regulatory and Legal Headwinds

by Lane Powell PC on 8/15/2012

Once lauded by the Harvard Business Review as a “Breakthrough Idea of 2010,” the promise of an innovative financing method for residential renewable energy and energy conservation retrofits under Property Assessed Clean...more

Does CEQA Provide For Classes of Exempt Projects? Parties File Opening Merits Brief in Supreme Court in Berkeley Hillside...

by Miller Starr Regalia on 8/3/2012

Following up on previous posts (see February and May archives), the City of Berkeley Respondents and the Kapors (Real Parties in Interest) filed their joint 80-page opening brief on the merits on July 27 in Berkeley Hillside...more

Ordinance Allowing Sequential Lot Line Adjustments Is Not Preempted By The Map Act

by Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on 7/9/2012

A court of appeal recently held a county ordinance that allows sequential lot line adjustments is consistent with exclusion of lot line adjustments from the requirements of the Subdivision Map Act (“Map Act”). The court also...more

Divisional Court Affirms the Decision of the Environmental Review Tribunal in Kawartha Lakes

by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on 6/8/2012

In its recent decision in The Corporation of the City of Kawartha Lakes v. Director, Ministry of the Environment (Kawartha Lakes) issued on May 28, 2012, the Divisional Court affirmed the reasoning of the Environmental Review...more

How Recent CEQA Cases Show The Need For Legislative CEQA Reform

by Miller Starr Regalia on 6/8/2012

Some CEQA practitioners think the sheer volume of published CEQA opinions demonstrates the need for reform – res ipsa loquitur, so to speak. Recently a litigation mentor of mine, a brilliant man who was at the forefront of...more

EPA's Enforcement Authority after Sackett: Same Old, Same Old

by Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 5/30/2012

After the oral argument Sackett v. EPA presaged where the decision was coming down, I raised the question whether EPA would try to persuade district courts that nothing really had changed. On occasion, I call them correctly....more

Due Process and Wetland Designations – Supreme Court Sides with Property Owners

by Schecter Law on 5/25/2012

Supreme Court Allows for Judicial Review of Clean Water Act Wetlands Designations In March of this year, the Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision holding that a property owner could only challenge an EPA...more

Superfund Year in Review: News for Insurance, Real Estate and Clean-Up Sectors

by Patton Boggs LLP on 5/25/2012

Federal courts placed a premium on up-to-date legal work in their 2011 Superfund decisions, as decisions turned increasingly on careful compliance with the latest pleading requirements and closer readings of the statutory...more

“Supreme Court Will Review CEQA Categorical Exemption Exception In Berkeley Hillside Preservation Case”

by Miller Starr Regalia on 5/24/2012

On May 23, 2012, the California Supreme Court by unanimous vote granted respondents’ and real parties’ petition for review of the First District Court of Appeal’s published decision in Berkeley Hillside Preservation, et al....more

REGULATORY: Environmental: Does Sackett Add to the Enforcement Defense Toolbox For Energy Companies By Drew Bell, Chris Benson,...

by King & Spalding on 5/14/2012

In its highly anticipated decision in Sackett v. EPA[1], the Supreme Court unanimously held that landowners may bring a civil action under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) to challenge an EPA compliance order issued...more

Will Green Codes LEED to Litigation?

by Dinsmore & Shohl LLP on 4/19/2012

As seen in DRI For The Defense. A deep recession and lethargic recovery have taken their toll on the U.S. construction industry. But despite the overall sluggishness in the construction sector, the U.S. green-building...more

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Residential Real Estate › Civil Procedure › Environmental Law