90 results for 'nos:"Torts to Land - Real Property"'.
J. Joseph denies summary judgment to owners and operators of a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing plant, ruling in favor of neighboring property owners in consolidated cases suing for environmental damages. The accused polluters unsuccessfully argue that their neighbors cannot provide evidence of a contractual provision of a state environmental law entitling them to “excess” groundwater remediation damages because no such contractual provision exists. The neighbors argue that they are not seeking damages for which the plant owners/operators are seeking summary judgment. However, applicability of the state’s groundwater law is a factual question for the jury.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: September 21, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv24, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Property, Tort
J. Peterson denies Monsanto's motion to exclude the expert testimony of Dr. Lisa Rodenburg from the city's lawsuit alleging that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the company's product, Aroclor, contaminated the Lower Duwamish River. Monsanto claims that Dr. Rodenburg's methodology was rigged "to ensure environmental sampling data would resemble Aroclor rather than byproduct PCB sources," but her academic remarks that several locations across the United States contained PCB congeners that can contribute to water pollution do not undermine her opinion that Aroclor is the primary source of PCB contamination in the river.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Experts, Discovery
J. Torresen grants in part a paper manufacturer's motion to dismiss class action claims brought against it by homeowners who live near its Old Town mill, which they claim has not been maintained properly, resulting in emissions of harsh rotten egg odors that are a nuisance and have devalued surrounding properties. The homeowners' nuisance claims cannot be dismissed based on their lack of regulatory claims. Whether the mill "has exceeded the standards for sulfur emissions or whether something else has caused the odor problem to worsen are open questions that may become clear after discovery."
Court: USDC Maine, Judge: Torresen, Filed On: September 12, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv305, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Tort, Zoning
J. Bumb grants the city and its officials' motion to dismiss the farmer's federal claims against them, which allege a conspiracy to harm him and his farming business led by the city's fire marshal and his family. The majority of the farmer's allegations are time-barred, since the alleged conduct giving rise to the suit largely took place in and around 2018, well before the July 2020 cutoff for claims brought under the Civil Rights Act and the New Jersey Civil Rights Act. He has also failed to state a plausible selective enforcement claim, since he has not established that his neighbors were similarly situated under the city's plumbing code, and his substantive and procedural due process claims similarly fail. The failure of these claims leads the court to decline to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over a RICO claim.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: Bumb, Filed On: August 31, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv4384, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Rights, Municipal Law, Property
J. Peterson denies the city's motion to exclude Dr. William Desvousges' second opinion, sans his opinions on Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW) anglers feeding on certain fish, from the city's lawsuit alleging that Monsanto Co. manufactured and sold polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that contaminated the LDW and the city's stormwater and drainage systems. Desvousges adequately supports his assertion that industrialization and not PCBs limited the LDW's recreational use by citing evidence such as how the city's public utilities strategic advisor managing the LDW sediment program said that PCBs do not prevent recreational fishing.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: August 28, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Water, Experts, Discovery
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J. Peterson denies the city's motion to prevent Monsanto's experts from testifying on the identified opinions in their reports sans their opinions about landfills as a source of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in litigation alleging that Monsanto and others intentionally manufactured and distributed PCBs that contaminated the Lower Duwamish Waterway (LDW) and the city's stormwater and drainage systems. The experts' remaining identified testimony is relevant to the case. Unlike the opinions about the landfills, the remaining testimony can address the city's public nuisance claim, as the experts opine on how the city or other parties could have contributed to the LDW's contamination.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: August 18, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Experts, Discovery
J. Dever grants summary judgment to a hog farm following allegations of negligence and trespass brought by residents living in close proximity to the farm. The residents claim the farm allowed hog feces, urine, dust and other contaminants to land on their properties and putrefy their air. However, they fail to show sufficient evidence that these substances came solely from the hog farm.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Dever, Filed On: August 16, 2023, Case #: 7:20cv85, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Tort, Negligence
J. Doughty denies summary judgment to an insurance company for an oil and gas exploration company, finding that the insurer has not demonstrated that the exclusions it cites in its commercial liability policy actually applies to the facts of the property owner’s land contamination case. Therefore, because an issue of material fact exists, summary judgment is denied.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: August 11, 2023, Case #: 3:21cv1070, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Property, Damages
J. Joseph denies requests by two sets of property owners in central Louisiana for class certification of their land contamination suit against the owners of a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing plant. The property owners cannot show that common questions of law and fact predominate over individualized questions particularly with respect to how the issues of causation and damages would apply to each individual litigant. Viewing all the claims as a whole the most prominent legal and factual issues appear to relate to the cause of alleged personal injuries and damages rather than liability.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: August 3, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv24, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Damages, Class Action
J. Harvey denies, in part, a property owner, contractor and subcontractor's motion to dismiss a townhome owner's claims related to their construction of a neighboring condo building, which he says has damaged his home. The individual has sufficiently made allegations to support his negligence and trespass claims.
Court: USDC District of Columbia, Judge: Harvey, Filed On: July 21, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv2112, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Negligence
J. Peterson denies Monsanto's motion to exclude expert Dr. Michael Trapp's fourth opinion that the city will incur $230 million in costs to reduce polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the Lower Duwamish Waterway and the city's stormwater and drainage systems, which the city says was contaminated by Monsanto's PCB-containing products. Dr. Trapp's cost estimate is sufficiently reliable because he used tools regulatory agencies and other government entities developed to determine city abatement costs, and the omission of certain sediment samples in his analysis are irrelevant.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: July 19, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Tort, Experts
J. Chuang partially grants a landowner's motion for summary judgment following trespass and nuisance claims against the United States Air Force after a pilot jettisoned fuel tanks, which fell onto the owner's land. Although regulation required the distressed pilot to unload the tanks, they are still considered trespass on private land. However, even though some fuel also allegedly contaminated the land, the owner had not yet built upon it, so the nuisance claim is denied.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Chuang, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 8:20cv616, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Government, Property, Tort
J. Peterson partially denies the city's motion to exclude Monsanto's expert's testimony from the city's lawsuit accusing the agrochemical company of manufacturing and selling polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that contaminated the Lower Duwamish River. The expert may give his opinion that Monsanto's "recommendations for PCB waste disposal conformed with applicable regulations and exceeded waste disposal standards at the time," because the materials he cited in his report are adequate to support his opinion.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: June 30, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Tort, Water, Experts
J. McNulty rules in part for the utilities company in claims contending the previous property owner contaminated the land due to an oil sump underneath the site. Continuity of shareholder interest had not occurred since the previous owner paid for the acquisition of another company that managed the site in cash and thus assumed all liabilities from the land.
Court: USDC New Jersey, Judge: McNulty , Filed On: June 26, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv13644, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Property
J. Sessions denies the company's motion to dismiss the nuisance case, where the school district alleges the company's polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are contaminating school buildings. The company is not entitled to dismissal based on the statute of limitations, and the school district sufficiently stated its nuisance and trespass claims.
Court: USDC Vermont, Judge: Sessions, Filed On: June 26, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv215, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, Environment, Tort
J. Conley orders Enbridge to stop operating portions of its oil and gas pipeline on the Chippewa tribe's reservation lands within three years, in part given Enbridge has been found to be trespassing on the lands under expired easements and the potential environmental impacts of ongoing riverbed erosion damaging the pipeline. Enbridge is also ordered to pay the tribe $5.1 million in damages for trespass calculated based on profits it netted while trespassing, additionally pay the tribe for each quarter it continues to trespass and adopt a modified, "more conservative" version of its proposed emergency shutdown plan for the pipeline. An immediate shutdown of the pipeline is not ordered, as the threat of rupture is not imminent and such an abrupt shutdown could severely disrupt markets for oil and natural gas and burden low-income energy consumers.
Court: USDC Western District of Wisconsin, Judge: Conley, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 3:19cv602, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Tort, Native Americans
J. Hicks denies Union Pacific’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, or for a new trial in this dispute regarding damages caused by storms and flooding, exacerbated by the ranch’s trespass. There were questions of fact needing decision by jury, and the jury needed to make the determinations of credibility relating to the witnesses. Other arguments do not have merit. All expert testimony was properly admitted. Evidence regarding a dam was properly excluded. There was no error in the court’s refusing to give a missing witness and documents instruction. No arguments raised to avoid waiver demonstrate any alleged error that would warrant a new trial.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Hicks, Filed On: June 16, 2023, Case #: 3:17cv477, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Tort, Due Process
J. Peterson denies the agrochemical company's motion to exclude the testimony of the city's rebuttal expert from the city's lawsuit alleging that the agrochemical company and others manufactured polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that contaminated the Lower Duwamish River and the city's stormwater and drainage systems. The agrochemical company argues that the city's expert is unqualified to render any opinions about the historical alternatives because he does not possess enough knowledge about dielectric fluid, historical alternatives to PCB dielectric fluid or comparing dielectric fluids. However, the expert has nearly 50 years experience working with PCB and non-PCB equipment with electrical utilities and companies, and is a certified hazardous material manager with training as a hazardous materials technician, hazardous materials specialist and on-scene incident commander.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Peterson, Filed On: June 15, 2023, Case #: 2:16cv107, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Product Liability
J. Bennett denies CSX's motion to dismiss tort claims brought by a class of residents alleging exposure to toxic coal dust following an explosion near the residents' homes. The explosion, at a coal processing plant, covered nearby houses in the dust, which contained lead, arsenic, silica and other carcinogenic substances. CSX argues the class cannot state a claim, but the class's allegations are sufficient for property damage, personal injury, trespass and nuisance.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Bennett, Filed On: June 14, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv2684, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Property, Tort
J. Land enters an injunction finding that the corporations created and maintained a nuisance at the Lumpkin Solar Facility that caused sedimentation to pollute the farm's wetlands, streams and lake for approximately two years. The corporations are ordered to eliminate the transport of sediment to the farm, prepare and complete erosion and pollution control plans, complete a hydrology study, prepare a stormwater management report and abide by other requirements.
Court: USDC Middle District of Georgia, Judge: Land, Filed On: June 5, 2023, Case #: 4:21cv134, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Restraining Order
J. Morgan grants requests by neighbors of a parish landfill for disclosure of the private operators’ redacted information about other dumps they operated. The litigants say the landfill operator’s financial and operational information will provide them with evidence of the companies’ knowledge of environmental risks associated with accepting certain types of waste. The landfill operators unsuccessfully argued disclosure of their financial information and operations at other dump sites would have the unfair effect of “inflaming” the jury. The neighbors’ request for the information is proper.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Morga, Filed On: May 26, 2023, Case #: 2:18cv7889, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Damages, Discovery
J. Hollander grants in part several motions in limine by a property preservation services firm after it was hired by PNC Bank to inspect and protect a foreclosed property. The property owners had defaulted on their mortgage, but they argue the firm unlawfully seized the home by preventing their entry. The firm moves to eliminate evidence from unrelated claims that the property owners presented during discovery, but the firm is correct because any proof of its wrongdoing in other cases does not necessarily demonstrate unlawful behavior in this case.
Court: USDC Maryland, Judge: Hollander, Filed On: May 26, 2023, Case #: 1:20cv3315, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Property, Tort, Banking / Lending
J. Urias remands to state court a lawsuit between representatives of a ranch and neighbors which the ranch alleges have failed to “properly maintain” oil and gas facilities, damaging the land. Those neighbors, the defendants in this case, were properly joined because they all conducted oil and gas operations nearby and were linked by a “common ‘series of occurrences,’” removing the “diversity jurisdiction” that would have allowed this court to hear this case.
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Urias, Filed On: May 24, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv515, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Environment, Tort, Jurisdiction