23 results for 'cat:"Environment" AND cat:"Contract"'.
J. Eyester denies the contractor's claim for price increases. Contracted for tree removal, pruning and roadside trimming at Lake O’ the Pines, Texas, the contractor claims the Army Corps of Engineers misclassified certain services causing a $7,117 increase in performance. While certain pruning services were removed from the contract and tree removal was increased due to a deep freeze, this does not establish a prior course of dealing eliminating performance on other task orders. There is no prior course of dealing evidencing the waiver of performance.
Court: Armed Services Board Of Contract Appeals, Judge: Eyester, Filed On: April 26, 2024, Case #: 63768, Categories: environment, Government, contract
J. Agee finds the lower court improperly interpreted the plain text of the decree. Environmental protection groups sued a now-defunct coal corporation for violating the Clean Water Act. They negotiated a consent decree that significantly limited the corporations' surface mining operations in Central Appalachia and required the company to reclaim its mining sites—that is, to return the mined land to a usable state. The new owner attempted to allow third parties to surface mine at the original corporation's facility to raise funds after inheriting the bankrupt coal corporation. The lower court found this violated the decree, but the decree only applies to the original corporation and does not bar others from using the land as they please. Vacated.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Agee, Filed On: April 17, 2024, Case #: 23-1696, Categories: Energy, environment, contract
J. Harrison finds the circuit court improperly dismissed the hunting lease caretaking service's complaint seeking nearly $8,000 in payment for an unpaid invoice. The caretaker terminated a verbal contract with a hunter after performing extra services that were added to the ongoing invoice, asking for payment in full. The circuit court entered an order finding that, in the absence of a written contract, the statute of limitations applies. Though the hunter offers several definitions for the agreement, which would govern the accrual date, this determination, as well as the question of timeliness, is for a jury to decide. Reversed.
Court: Arkansas Court Of Appeals, Judge: Harrison , Filed On: April 10, 2024, Case #: CV-22-528, Categories: Debt Collection, environment, contract
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J. King finds in partial favor of the county against the gas company's complaint that the county stopped accepting the plant condensate, a byproduct of its landfill gas conversion process, resulting in the closure of the gas company's landfill gas processing plant. The gas company argues that the plant condensate eventually makes its way to Puget Sound so the gas company's operations are subject to a Clean Water Act permit, but the plant condensate goes through a complicated process before reaching Puget Sound without traveling through a non-point source like the groundwater in the cited "County of Maui" to navigable waters.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: King, Filed On: February 9, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv542, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: environment, Water, contract
J. Bell rules in favor of a glue manufacturer that sued a group of companies responsible for transporting and treating its wastewater, the disposal of which cost more than $7 million because the sued companies failed to properly deal with it. The manufacturer contracted with companies to treat and dispose of several thousand 275-gallon totes of the wastewater, but one of the companies did not do so and stored the totes on another’s property. The problem was left to fester until state and federal environmental authorities intervened and tested the water, which was found to contain toxic chemicals. The manufacturer had led all parties to believe the water was non-toxic, and thus, bears the burden of paying most of the $7 million needed by the EPA to dispose of the water properly. The companies in question and associated individuals have also expressed their inability to pay large costs and will be responsible to pay a total of over $576,000 toward the EPA’s balance.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Bell, Filed On: December 15, 2023, Case #: 5:21cv69, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Government, contract
J. Atkins finds that the trial court properly granted an oil company's "motion to adopt the most feasible plan" for the evaluation and remediation of environmental damage on a property as necessitated by decades of oil and gas operations on the property. The property owner's claim that there is a lack of complete delineation of the vertical and horizontal extent of the environmental damage does not invalidate the plan because statute is clear that non-compliance with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources' Act 312 implementing regulations is not fatal to a "most feasible plan." Further, the property owner does not show that the plan is statutorily or constitutionally invalid. Affirmed.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Atkins, Filed On: December 7, 2023, Case #: 2023-CA-0269, Categories: environment, contract
J. Eyester denies the contractor's appeal of the Army Corp of Engineers' denial of compensation for 19 days of a 49-day suspension of work on the contract to build outlet and cutoff structures for the Buffalo Bayou flood control project in Houston. The contract included provisions for severe weather extensions, and the contractor fails to prove the government is the sole cause of the flooding which resulted in suspension of the work by its opening of upstream floodgates.
Court: Armed Services Board Of Contract Appeals, Judge: Eyester , Filed On: November 1, 2023, Case #: 62281, Categories: environment, Government, contract
J. Stickman allows Estes Express Lines to pursue secondary environmental tort claims contending U.S.A. Lamp and Ballast Recycling failed to pay cleanup costs for a mercury spill that occurred at Estes' trucking terminal due to the improper storage and packing of hazardous material. Estes provided evidence that additional cleanup costs had been incurred under the comprehensive environmental response, compensation and liability act, which allows plaintiffs to pursue identical claims against the same defendant in subsequent litigation based on additional test results and future cleanup costs.
Court: USDC Western District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Stickman, Filed On: October 19, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv1228, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Negligence, contract
J. Norris declares that the plaintiff city will continue to treat the wastewater from the defendant sewer district until the district "is able to complete all necessary construction to begin operations and route wastewater to an alternative treatment facility." Additionally, the court declares that the district will have eight years to complete the construction on the alternative treatment facility. The district is also required to provide an estimated construction schedule, along with periodic updates on its progress.
Court: USDC Western District of Tennessee , Judge: Norris, Filed On: September 22, 2023, Case #: 2:19cv2864, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: environment, contract
J. DeGravelles grants a renewed request for dismissal from an oil and gas corporation tasked with overseeing the state-ordered cleanup of a former Superfund site. A subcontractor on the restoration project has failed to make sufficient allegations to support its claim for unjust enrichment against the supervisor of an industry fund for the cleanup operation corporation. Because the subcontractor has a contractual remedy against the general contractor for the job, the subcontractor is precluded from bringing an unjust enrichment against the corporation for $887,386 in unpaid invoices.
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: DeGravelles, Filed On: September 14, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv62, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: Energy, environment, contract
J. Clarke finds in favor of the federal government for its claim that the county government office's 1943 contract and 1977 water permit do not allow it to make unauthorized water diversions from Klamath River, and that the water diversion limits the available habitat of the shortnose sucker and other local endangered species. Although the 1943 contract allows the county government office to take a maximum of 27,500 acre-feet of water per year under normal circumstances, there is a valid and legal exception during times of drought, such as what happened in 2022, meaning the county government office violated the terms of the contract.
Court: USDC Oregon, Judge: Clarke, Filed On: September 11, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv962, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: environment, Water, contract
J. Reyes finds that the lower court properly found for Trump Tower's insurers and granted their motions for judgments finding they owed the Chicago hotel no duty to defend it in a lawsuit over the improper operation of a cooling water intake structure. Coverage is barred by the policies' pollution exclusion provisions. Affirmed.
Court: Illinois Appellate Court, Judge: Reyes, Filed On: August 30, 2023, Case #: 221625, Categories: environment, Insurance, contract
J. Freudenthal grants the minerals company summary judgment for the claim regarding the Nine Mile Lease and the adjoining lands in the coal company's lawsuit over the calculation of the advance minimum production royalties of Bridger Coal's mines. The lease that is subject to the claim is not a contiguous lease or contiguous permit, meaning it does not constitute adjoining lands for the purposes of either the minimum production obligation or advance royalty calculation.
Court: USDC Wyoming, Judge: Freudenthal, Filed On: August 29, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv102, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: environment, contract
J. Colloton finds a lower court properly granted Land O' Lakes' motion for summary judgment concerning a commercial bag manufacture's contract claims. The bag manufacturer argued that Land O' Lakes breached a packaging materials supply contract by shopping around for new vendors. However, Land O' Lakes sufficiently showed in court that the commercial bag manufacturer used polypropylene materials manufactured in Vietnam, which were illegally dumped in the U.S. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Colloton, Filed On: August 25, 2023, Case #: 22-3036, Categories: environment, contract
J. Vance denies summary judgment to Marathon Oil Company on the argument that its agreement with the LLOG Exploration Company obligates LLOG to defend and indemnify Marathon from claims raised in a land contamination suit related to oil and gas operations on the property. The only reasonable interpretation of the oil companies contract is that the allocates liability for claims arising from conduct that occurred before Jan. 1, 1991, to Marathon and not LLOG.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vance, Filed On: July 13, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv1295, NOS: Other Contract - Contract, Categories: environment, Indemnification, contract
J. Crain finds that refusals to engage in illegal or environmentally damaging activities are "disclosures" under the Louisiana Environmental Whistleblower Statute and is a protected action. The statute was enacted pursuant to a constitutional mandate to protect the environment, and "disclosures" encompass a refusal to act. Further, the statute gives protection to an employee who reports to his supervisor an activity of the employer that he or she reasonably believes is in violation of an environmental law, even when reporting violations of environmental law is a part of his or her normal job responsibilities.
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court, Judge: Crain, Filed On: June 27, 2023, Case #: 2023-CQ-00246, Categories: Employment, environment, contract
J. Jenkins finds that the trial court should not have awarded attorney fees and costs to a landowner on a claim for environmental and private damages after the oil company entered a limited admission of liability as to three of the four tracts of land. The landowner should not have been awarded fees and costs for work performed in pursuit of its unsuccessful private damages claims at trial and for work outside the scope of Act 312. The date the trial began through the last date included in the submitted billing records must be excluded from the total award. Reversed in part.
Court: Louisiana Court Of Appeal, Judge: Jenkins , Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: 2022-CA-0383, Categories: environment, Attorney Fees, contract