Residential Real Estate, Environmental Law, Civil Remedies

The Intersection of Subrogation and Environmental Law — The Ninth Circuit’s Tyranny of Logic over Common Sense

by Robert S. Sanoff | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 3/20/2013

In a decision that exalts casuistry over common sense, the Ninth Circuit recently held that an insurer who reimbursed $2.4 million in CERCLA response costs to its policyholder had no subrogation rights against the potentially...more

Limitation Periods for Environmental Cost Recovery Claims in BC Abolished

by Wally Braul, Laura Gill, Michael Theroux | Bennett Jones LLP on 2/7/2013

The government of B.C. recently passed legislation that will eliminate any limitation period previously applicable to actions to recover the costs of environmental remediation under the Environmental Management Act, S.B.C....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

EPA Issues New Superfund Guidance

by Natalie Reed | Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger... on 12/1/2012

Settlement plays a fundamental role in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Superfund enforcement program. Potentially Responsible Parties (“PRPs”) seeking to resolve their liability through the settlement process...more

Drillers Hose Texas Landowners with Fast & Dirty Fracking

by Lawyers.com on 10/15/2012

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” – a method of oil and gas extraction – was already controversial because of charges that the process is harmful to the environment. Now it’s being used to rip off landowners who refuse to...more

CERCLA and Original Sin -- Who Has to Pay For Other People's Contamination

by Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 9/28/2012

In an environmental dispute between innocents involving a Church and a downgradient property owner, a federal court recently found the Church, although without original sin, was less innocent and should bear all the costs of...more

FHFA Proposes Rule for PACE Programs

by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP on 6/25/2012

On June 15, the FHFA, as required by a preliminary injunction from the Northern District Court of California, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on state and local energy retrofit financing arrangements known as Property...more

UPDATE: Exhaustion-Of-Administrative-Remedies Requirement Applies If There Is A Public Hearing Before An Agency Determines A...

by Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on 6/21/2012

The California Supreme Court recently held that the exhaustion-of-administrative-remedies requirement found in Public Resources Code § 21177, subdivision (a), applies where a public agency determines that a proposed project...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

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

“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

First District Holds CEQA Does Not Apply To Napa County Ordinance Clarifying Its Ministerial Lot Line Adjustment Practice, And...

by Miller Starr Regalia on 4/24/2012

In a case addressing important issues affecting local agencies and landowners (disclaimer: I represented the County of Napa in the trial court and on appeal), the First District (Division 4) Court of Appeal on April 20, 2012...more

Sackett v. EPA: Property Owners May Challenge EPA Orders

by Mintz Levin on 4/3/2012

The United States Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrative orders under the Clean Water Act are subject to pre-enforcement judicial review. However, the Supreme Court’s...more

Supreme Court Opens District Courts to Challenges of Clean Water Act Compliance Orders

by Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP on 3/22/2012

The United States Supreme Court issued a decision yesterday in the case Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. The Sackett case is an important development for property owners because the Court held that a compliance...more

RCRA Citizen Suits Are Still Constitutional

by Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 3/14/2012

2012 is shaping up to be the Year of the Commerce Clause. Not only is the Commerce Clause at the center of the Supreme Court ‘s impending review of the Affordable Care Act later this spring; it is also at the heart of a...more

Sackett v. EPA – Supreme Court to Decide Whether Pre-Enforcement Review of Compliance Orders Allowed

by Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger... on 1/10/2012

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument on Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (docket no. 10-1062). At issue is whether a party who was issued a pre-enforcement compliance order from the...more

Words Matter in Environmental Cleanup Standards

by Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 12/20/2011

In New York State Superfund Coalition, Inc., v. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the highest court in New York recently put its own gloss on the long-standing environmental issue of "How Clean is...more

Marzulla Law Legal Report - July 29, 2011

by Nancie G. Marzulla on 8/1/2011

In This Issue: - Federal Government Admits To Liability In Land Takings: The Otay And Bassett Cases Sometimes the evidence of a taking is so overwhelming that even the federal government has to concede liability....more

Under CERCLA, "Owner" Means Owner When Cleanup Costs Are Incurred, Not When Reimbursement Is Sought

by Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP on 8/6/2010

On July 22, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ("CERCLA," commonly referred to as the "Superfund" law), the owner of a contaminated...more

Supreme Court Decision Gives New Hope to Defendants in Superfund Cases

by Foley Hoag LLP on 5/6/2009

Monday’s Supreme Court’s decision in Burlington Northern v. United States will significantly affect the outcome of many pending and future Superfund disputes. The opinion’s two principal holdings narrow the scope and extent...more

New Ninth Circuit Decision Confirms that Parties Who Undertake Soil and Groundwater Cleanups Voluntarily or at the Request of...

by Morrison & Foerster LLP on 5/7/2008

A new decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holds that parties who undertake environmental investigations and cleanups absent a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or court decree or judgment...more

Environmental Advisory: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Holds Parent Corporation Not Liable under Massachusetts Superfund Law...

by Mintz Levin - Corporate & Securities on 3/25/2008

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has held that a parent corporation is not liable under M.G.L. c. 21E, the Massachusetts Superfund law, for the liability of a subsidiary that the parent did not own or control at...more

Measure 37: Approaching Year Zero Plus Three

by Lane Powell PC - Environmental Law on 7/17/2007

In November 2004, the Oregon voters passed Ballot Measure 37 (now codified as ORS 197.352), which allows property owners to make claims for compensation if the value of the claimant's property has been reduced by land use...more

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Residential Real Estate › Environmental Law › Civil Remedies