By Jeryl L. Olson and Eric E. Boyd
On August 7th, in Summit Petroleum Corp. v. EPA, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that Summit Petroleum’s natural gas operations plant and wells located in a 43-square mile area near the plant were…
Philip L. Comella recently published an article in the American Bar Association’s Environmental Litigation and Toxic Torts Committee Newsletter (July 2012) 13:2, entitled “Nine Tips for Taking an Effective Deposition in an Environmental Case.”
The article contains practical tips on how to get the most out of a deposition involving environmental claims, though the tips can apply to virtually any …
Continue Reading Nine Tips for Taking an Effective Deposition in an Environmental Case
By Andrew H. Perellis and Philip L. Comella
In an important decision concerning the application of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) criminal penalties, the U.S. Supreme Court recently held, in Southern Union Co. v. US, __ U.S. ___, 132 S.Ct. 2344, 2012 WL 2344465 (June 21, 2012), that the duration of misconduct underlying the imposition…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Holds that Jury, not Court, Must Decide Duration of Misconduct Underlying Criminal Fines under RCRA
By Andrew H. Perellis and Ilana R. Morady
On March 21, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision hugely impacting EPA’s enforcement authority under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The decision also has strong implications for EPA’s enforcement authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA).
The issue before the Court was whether two landowners could bring a…
Continue Reading Sackett v. EPA: Supreme Court Decides Unanimously In Favor Of Landowners
By Andrew H. Perellis and Ilana R. Morady
After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its transformative decision in Dukes, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 10–277 (June 20, 2011), holding that plaintiffs alleging employment discrimination had failed to demonstrate the existence of common questions sufficient for class certification under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)(2), we wrote…
By Andrew H. Perellis and Ilana R. Morady
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently issued an opinion holding that arranger liability under Section 9607(a)(3) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) can attach to a potentially responsible party (PRP) even if a PRP does not direct a site owner to dispose of…
By David A. Blake, LEED AP, Christa L. Dommers, and Michael J. Bauer
An article by Seyfarth attorneys David Blake, Christa Dommers and Michael Bauer was published in Bloomberg BNA’s January 24 Real Estate Law & Industry Report. In the article, the authors outline several significant lawsuits on green building for the commercial real estate sector. The topics …
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently announced the filing of a consent decree to settle a Clean Water Act (CWA) fill and dredge case for the Army Corps of Engineers (COE). The complaint and consent decree were filed in USA v. Trinski and Hohan, No. 07-C-3600 (N.D. Ill). The notice of lodging was…
By Ilana R. Morady and Craig B. Simonsen
In a recent District Court decision in a toxic torts case, De Zayas v. Bellsouth Telecommunications, Inc., ___ F.Supp.2d ___, 2012 WL 161330 (S.D.Fla., January 18, 2012), the Court, finding no causal connection between the Defendant and the damage claim, granted the Defendant’s motion for summary judgment.
This case involved a…
By Craig B. Simonsen and Jeryl L. Olson
The District Court of Idaho, in Idaho Conservation League v. Atlanta Gold Corporation, No. 11-CV-161 (January 9, 2012), recently granted summary judgment to allow standing in a citizen’s suit. In the case, Atlantic Gold Corporation (Defendant) held a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit which…
