26 results for 'cat:"Environment" AND cat:"Negligence"'.
[Consolidated.] J. Baltodano holds that the trial court must revisit the restitution claims of four commercial fishers who argue they lost revenue due to a crude oil spill. Neither a mediated civil settlement nor a class action lawsuit bar restitution for commercial fishers who demonstrate direct financial losses from the criminally unlawful discharge. However, the trial court properly denied restitution to oil platform employees who relied on the oil industry since the income they lost when the pipeline shut down made them only indirect victims. Reversed in part.
Court: California Courts Of Appeal, Judge: Baltodano, Filed On: May 2, 2024, Case #: B315256, Categories: Restitution, environment, Criminal negligence
J. Sessions denies Monsanto, Bayer and two other companies’ motion to dismiss a misrepresentation claim brought by four teachers and a student, who say the companies’ polychlorinated biphenyls are contaminating school buildings, as well as a husband’s claim for loss of consortium due to his wife’s injuries. The ag giants are not entitled to dismissal because the plaintiffs plausibly alleged justifiable reliance on the companies’ representations.
Court: USDC Vermont, Judge: Sessions, Filed On: April 12, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv272, NOS: Personal Injury - Product Liability - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: environment, Tort, negligence
J. Hardy approved a consent decree between two environmental organizations and a steel manufacturer, finding the manufacturer will pay $5 million in penalties and settlement payments, plus $3 million towards litigation costs, after a control room fire at the steel manufacturer’s plant spurred a Clean Air Act violation complaint.
Court: USDC Western District of Pennsylvania, Judge: Hardy, Filed On: March 26, 2024, Case #: 2:19cv484, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Rights, environment, negligence
[Consolidated.] J. Austin denies the landfill's motion to dismiss. The residents claim gross negligence and recklessness against the landfill after its acceptance of additional tonnage of waste resulted in the release of noxious odors, as well as the physical intrusion of trash, hazardous waste, soiled diapers and other solid waste onto the residents' properties. Allegations are sufficient to establish a plausible claim for relief.
Court: USDC South Carolina Aiken, Judge: Austin, Filed On: March 25, 2024, Case #: 8:23cv1417, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: environment, negligence
J. Pearson denies, in part, Norfolk Southern's motion to dismiss, ruling claims brought by residents of East Palestine are not preempted by federal law because the claims involved in the train derailment either involve conduct not covered by federal law or seek damages for a breach of safety regulations. Additionally, Norfolk Southern's transport of more than a million pounds of hazardous chemicals and intentionally setting them on fire in a residential neighborhood following the derailment constitute "abnormally dangerous activity" and establishes a claim for strict liability.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Pearson, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv242, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: environment, Tort, negligence
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J. Pearson denies, in part, the chemical and rail companies' motion to dismiss, ruling that when they leased railcars and used them to transport chemicals, they knew the cars would pass through Ohio, which is sufficient to establish jurisdiction in this court for claims filed by the New Palestine residents harmed by the train derailment.
Court: USDC Northern District of Ohio, Judge: Pearson, Filed On: March 13, 2024, Case #: 4:23cv242, NOS: Other Personal Injury - Torts - Personal Injury, Categories: environment, negligence, Jurisdiction
J. Bury grants the Center for Biological Diversity's motion for summary judgment against the Environmental Protection Agency. The Center for Biological Diversity sufficiently showed in court that the EPA violated the notice and comment mandates for issuing “new use” pesticide registrations for OTT dicamba for cotton and soybean crops. The court vacates the 2020 registrations for XtendiMax, Enginia, and Tavium.
Court: USDC Arizona, Judge: Bury, Filed On: February 6, 2024, Case #: 4:20cv555, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Government, negligence
J. Richardson denies the waste management defendants' dismissal motion in this lawsuit brought by the City of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, over the alleged mismanagement of a landfill. The complaint sufficiently alleges a "compensable injury or loss" to support the city's negligence claim.
Court: USDC Middle District of Tennessee , Judge: Richardson, Filed On: November 28, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv605, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: Civil Procedure, environment, negligence
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. Kovner denies ExxonMobil’s motion to dismiss two Brooklyn residents’ claims for injuries arising from exposure to an oil spill that had first been discovered in a nearby creak in a heavily industrialized area of Greenpoint in the late 1970s. The litigants claim they were diagnosed with leukemia in 2012 and 2019, respectively, due to their exposure to contaminated water. The court disagrees with ExxonMobil’s arguments and finds the claims are timely.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Kovner, Filed On: September 30, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv5508, NOS: Torts to Land - Real Property, Categories: environment, negligence
J. Jarbou declines to dismiss class claims brought against the mayor and two other defendants after residents allegedly consumed water containing lead, bacteria, and other contaminants because claims were supported by repeated false statements defendants made to the public about the safety of the city’s water.
Court: USDC Western District of Michigan, Judge: Jarbou, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 1:21cv960, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Water, negligence
J. Wood partially grants the motion to dismiss by the ship owner, charterer, operator and agent as to the local companies' claims seeking natural resource damages and subsistence use damages under the Oil Pollution Act in a negligence, trespass and public nuisance action arising after a shipping vessel capsized in the St. Simons Sound. Eight of the company parties did not present claims for property damages under the Act, therefore the motion to dismiss is also granted as to those claims. The Act also displaces the companies' federal maritime negligence claim against the ship parties and the agent. However, the motion to dismiss is denied with regard to property damages claims asserted by nine of the company parties.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv86, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Maritime, negligence
J. Wood grants the motion to dismiss by the ship owner, charterer, operator and agent as to the shrimping and crabbing companies' claims for natural resources damages and subsistence use damages under the Oil Pollution Act in a negligence action arising after a shipping vessel capsized in the St. Simons Sound. The companies' federal maritime negligence claims against the ship parties and the agent are displaced by the Act, therefore the motion to dismiss is also granted as to those claims. However, the ship parties' motion to dismiss is denied as to the companies' claim for property damages under the Act. The agent's motion to dismiss is denied as to the companies' state law claims for negligence, public nuisance and trespass.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: September 13, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv85, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Maritime, negligence
J. Wood partially denies the motion by the ship owner, charterer, operator and agent to dismiss a negligence, trespass and public and private nuisance action brought by the county for damages arising after a car and truck shipping vessel capsized in the Saint Simons Sound and leaked thousands of gallons of fuel. The motion is denied as to the county's claim under the Oil Pollution Act. The county's presentment gave the parties enough information to enable them to investigate the claims and provided a fixed amount of damages from which settlement negotiations could begin. However, the motion to dismiss is granted as to the county's federal maritime negligence claim because it is displaced by the Act.
Court: USDC Southern District of Georgia, Judge: Wood, Filed On: September 1, 2023, Case #: 2:22cv28, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: environment, negligence
J. Leinenweber denies a gas station franchise’s motion to dismiss negligence and environmental nuisance claims brought by a property ownership group. The property owners claim their office building was polluted for decades by toxic petroleum products from the adjacent gas station, but that they were not made aware of it until 2020. The court finds the property owners have sufficiently alleged their claims and are within the applicable statutes of limitations, and so denies the franchise’s motion to dismiss.
Court: USDC Northern District of Illinois, Judge: Leinenweber, Filed On: August 10, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv5108, NOS: Environmental Matters - Other Suits, Categories: environment, Property, negligence
J. Jacobs finds that the district court improperly dismissed a "citizen suit" contending that years of toxic byproduct disposal by three big chemical companies elevated radiation levels on private land near their plants. The court prematurely concluded the waste did not constitute discarded material subject to environment rules but material that had been recycled into other uses, such as gravel, an issue that merits discovery as against Union Carbide and Occidental Chemical; liability is tenuous, however, as against Bayer CropScience.
Court: 2nd Circuit, Judge: Jacobs, Filed On: July 13, 2023, Case #: 21-1354, Categories: environment, negligence, Discovery