10 results for 'cat:"Environment" AND cat:"Evidence"'.
J. Joseph grants summary judgment to General Electric, dismissing all land contamination claims by one of two sets of central Louisiana property owners. The litigants unsuccessfully alleged that under a theory of successor liability, the GE is responsible for the clean-up of decades of soil and groundwater contamination from a now-closed pipe valve manufacturing plant. The landowners offer no proof to controvert the business records offered by GE, which show the corporation’s relationship with the failed factory is “indirect and removed by multiple degrees" and “the doctrine of successor liability does not apply to GE at all.” The landowners’ “barebones argument” that GE assumed the liabilities of the plant’s previous owners is unpersuasive.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Joseph, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 1:22cv263, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Corporations, environment, evidence
J. Adams denies the city's motion to alter its consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency, ruling that while its proposed amendment to allow overflow of 100 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Cuyahoga Valley National Park is significantly less than the amount of overflow at the time the decree was established, it does not amount to a de minimis impact on the watershed and surrounding area. Additionally, the increase in treatment costs from $56 million to $209 million is not a significant change in circumstances that allows for an adjustment in the consent decree because the city provided no evidence to explain the cost increase and relied on outdated treatment data when it submitted cost predictions.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Adams, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 5:09cv272, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, evidence, Water
J. Jackson grants summary judgment to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, upholding the agency’s 2014 decision to remove the Louisiana Black Bear from a list of endangered species after determining that its population had recovered from the threat of agricultural land clearing efforts in the early 1990s. The Service’s decision to delist the Louisiana Black Bear was lawful and not arbitrary or capricious, as litigant-nonprofit organizations alleged. The Service’s conclusions about the viability of the current Black Bear population were “based on its reasonable assessment of the best available scientific evidence.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Jackson, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 3:20cv651, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: environment, evidence, Government
J. Vance finds for BP on an oil spill cleanup worker's claims following the deadly explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The worker fails to show the discovery he seeks will be important to develop the expert causation evidence required to help him demonstrate the chemical dispersant COREXIT can cause allergic rhinitis or chronic sinusitis in the general population. Since he cannot prove a necessary element of his claims against the oil giant, his claims must be dismissed.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vance, Filed On: January 4, 2024, Case #: 2:22cv1043, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: environment, evidence, Tort
J. Mansfield declines to sanction the government for the loss of text messages from two Navy captains regarding the water contamination by jet fuel from the military’s Red Hill storage facility. The text message evidence as to when the military knew of the contamination was lost in a reset of the phones prior to the litigation, but can be recovered from other parties, which the government has taken steps to preserve and hand over to those affected by the leak. There is no proof that key text messages about the contamination between the two captains of different commands exist and that the loss was anything but inadvertent.
Court: USDC Hawaii, Judge: Mansfield, Filed On: December 14, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv397, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: environment, evidence, Government
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J. Bustamante finds the environmental impact board improperly granted the natural gas plant's application for an air quality permit. It used the appropriate significant impact level test measurements to determine the environmental impact of ozone pollution by the plant and relied on properly authenticated expert testimony, including hypothetical modeling that showed emissions would reach only 5 percent of the impact level threshold. Affirmed.
Court: New Mexico Court of Appeals, Judge: Bustamante, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: A-1-CA-39522, Categories: environment, evidence, Experts
J. Simon declines to dismiss all but the first of the nonprofit organization's claims alleging that then-Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt wrongfully granted Hammond Ranches a new grazing permit on four allotments in southeastern Oregon despite two of the ranch owners and operators' convictions for deliberately setting public lands on fire. The Secretary's new evidence does not sufficiently show that the nonprofit organization's fears of future fires being set are unfounded.
Court: USDC Western District of Washington, Judge: Simon, Filed On: December 4, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv297, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, evidence
J. Silva denies the environmental advocacy group’s motion for a preliminary injunction to halt a watershed restoration project, arguing that the environmental assessment violates the Administrative Procedure Act and environmental and land management policies. The Bureau of Land Management has found that delaying the project will allow the establishment of invasive trees to continue, reducing indigenous sagebrush. This will reduce usable habitat for the greater sage-grouse and other species. Interference with the ability of visitors to enjoy the woodlands does not weigh as substantially as other matters.
Court: USDC Nevada, Judge: Silva, Filed On: October 18, 2023, Case #: 2:23cv435, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: environment, evidence, Agency
J. Pearson denies, in part, the waste disposal facility's motion to dismiss, ruling nuisance and negligence claims filed by neighboring individuals are not barred by the applicable 4-year statute of limitations. The facility's repeated EPA violations, including notices as recent as 2022, represent a continuing course of conduct that tolls the statute of limitations. However, because there is no evidence to support the owners' claim the facility intentionally created noxious fumes that drifted over the neighboring properties, the trespass claim must be dismissed.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Pearson, Filed On: September 8, 2023, Case #: 4:22cv1376, NOS: All Other Real Property - Real Property, Categories: environment, evidence, Class Action
J. Sannes dismisses a motion for spoliations sanctions filed by the defendants in a case that seeks liability under CERCLA for the costs addressing a petroleum contamination at a former metal recycling plant in Utica, New York. During litigation, it was discovered that the litigant ordered the destruction of more than 23,000 pounds of documents containing historic records related to the facility, which the court determined was grounds for sanctions. However, the court finds the defendants’ request to dismiss its remaining state law claims, plus a $2.3 million monetary sanction, to be too drastic a penalty, recommending a smaller award for attorney fees based on the time their respective counsels spent to uncover, investigate and litigate the spoliation.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Sannes, Filed On: September 7, 2023, Case #: 6:16cv1523, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, evidence, Sanctions