Injunction to Prevent Timber Sale in Wisconsin Granted by Federal Court due to Forest Service’s Failure to Adequately Assess Cumulative Impacts May 2005

Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Regulatory Takings Claim, Due to a Lack of Subject Mater Jurisdiction, in Rent Control “Premium” Case February 2004

Fourth District Court Finds Developer Had Not Obtained Vested Right to Develop Property Absent Compliance with Specific Plan Requirements June 2005

News from the West August 2008

Federal Claims Court Awards $2.8 Million for Taking of Water Rights on Federal Land in Central Nevada August 2008

Colorado Supreme Court Pounds Nails into the Coffin of the State Engineer-Approved Temporary Substitute Supply Plans June 2003

Ninth Circuit Finds Plaintiff Met Standing Requirements to Assert NEPA Claim; Examines Plaintiff's Cumulative Impact Arguments under NEPA November 2001

Court of Appeals: Ninth Circuit Rejects EPA's Interpretation of Clean Air Act § 110(l). November 2001

Utah State Trial Court Affirms the State Engineer’s Denial of a Change Application Based on a Lack of Beneficial Use December 2009

News from the West August 2006

Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Limits on Voting Rights in Special Districts Serving Agricultural Interests June 2006

Eighth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Tort Claims Brought against Herbicide Manufacturer Based on Preemption by FIFRA April 2005

District Court Remands to State Court a Negligence Per Se Claim Premised on Violation of the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act March 2005

Fourth Circuit Limits Contractual Obligation of Gas Station Seller that Contracted to Remove USTs July 2003

California Supreme Court Decision and Water Agreement Affect San Gabriel Basin Cleanup Measures March 2002

Third District Holds County’s Flood Control Activities Met Reasonableness Standard—Did Not Give Rise to Inverse Condemnation Liability June 2009

Third District Holds County’s Flood Control Activities Met Reasonableness Standard—Did Not Give Rise to Inverse Condemnation Liability May 2009

First District Court Holds City of Hayward Improperly Delegated Cost of Preparing CEQA Administrative Record to Developer June 2005

Fifth Circuit Applies Texas Law and Upholds Jury Verdict for Trespass by Airborne Particulates June 2003

Adrift in the Water: Key Provisions of the Water Quality Program Remain Untethered January 2008

Ninth Circuit Holds Irrigation District Must Obtain NPDES Permit for Weed Control Activities in Canal May 2001

Federal/Oregon: Court Holds Irrigation District Must Obtain NPDES Permit for Weed Control Activities in Canal April 2001

Ninth Circuit Holds that Res Judicata Bars Litigation by Environmental Group when Same Claims and Interests Were Advanced by Previous Plaintiff November 2004

Residents Fail in State Clean Water Act Challenge to Discharge of New Silver Beach Waste Water into Ground and Groundwater October 2009

Fourth District finds Approval of Design Plan Application for Previously Approved Business Center Was a Ministerial Act Not Subject to CEQA August 2009

Ninth Circuit Denies Claims that U.S. Forest Service Unlawfully Permitted Motorized Use of a Trail in Hells Canyon Wilderness March 2010

Eighth Circuit Holds Appellant’s Clean Air Act Citizen Suit Moot in the Face of a Subsequently Acquired Clean Air Act Permit May 2009

Sixth Circuit Holds that Ohio Landowners Have a Property Interest in Groundwater; Governmental Interference Can Constitute a Taking March 2006

New York District Court Holds Pollution Exclusion Clause Does Not Include Contaminants such as Lead Paint January 2005

Second District Protects the Right of the Voters To Nullify Public Land-Use Contracts that Would Harm the Public Health and Safety March 2001

Puerto Rico Federal District Court Rejects Consultant’s Statutory Immunity Defense to Contribution Claims Brought under Puerto Rican Law August 2004

District Court Decides Private Citizen Suits Are Not Barred by Previous Administrative Actions April 2009

Prohibiting Big Macs and Rollbacks: California’s Ever-Expanding Regulation of Retail End-Users December 2007

Local Governments’ Regulatory Authority Boosted by California Supreme Court Decision Affirming Right to Regulate to Protect Economic Development July 2007

On Remand, District Court Withdraws Previous Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and Adopts New Definition of Hydraulic Connection between Ground and Surface Water October 2006

New Mexico Supreme Court Reverses State Engineer, Adopts New Test for Surface to Groundwater Transfers May 2006

Third District Holds No Unconstitutional Taking Occurred where Local Open Range Ordinance Allows Free-Ranging Cattle to Use Private Property December 2005

Fourth District Upholds Redevelopment Agency’s Execution of Municipal Services Agreement with Tribe —Agreement Did Not Render ‘Assistance’ in Casino Development July 2007

Federal District Court Rejects U.S-Colorado Compromise Regarding Federal Reserved Water Rights for Gunnison National Park’s Black Canyon November 2006

The Colorado Supreme Court Makes Clear that Speculation in Water Is Never Allowed, even in a Change of Water Rights Proceeding November 2005

Eighth Circuit Addresses Statute of Limitations for Environmental Torts and Related Breaches of Lease under Arkansas Law March 2004

California Superior Court Rules No Global Warming Analysis Required by California Environmental Quality Act—However, Water Supply Analysis Inadequate June 2008

Superior Court Rules No Global Warming Analysis Required by CEQA, but Finds EIR Inadequately Addressed Water Supply April 2008

Massachusetts Appeals Court Affirms Award of All Legal Expenses to Seller of Contaminated Property Based on Broad Indemnity Agreement with Buyer May 2001

First District Finds No Basis for a Kavanau Adjustment where Landlord Received a Fair Return under City Rent Control Ordinance June 2006

Wisconsin Supreme Court Reaffirms Agency Authority over Determinations of Reasonable Pier Use October 2006

Emphasizing Dry Cleaning Manufacturer’s Lack of Affirmative Conduct, District Court Dismisses Claims under CERCLA, RCRA, HSAA, and Common Law July 2010

District Court Refuses to Apply CERCLA Arranger Liability to Manufacturer/Franchiser of Dry Cleaning Equipment March 2010

Applying the Burlington Northern ‘Arranger Test,’ the District Court Dismisses a CERCLA Claim against Dry Cleaning Machine Manufacturers May 2010

Texas Court of Appeals Clarifies When the Public Has the Right to Use Navigable Waters Flowing over Private Land December 2006

News from the West February 2007

Tenth Circuit Applies Doctrine of Continuing Nuisance to Groundwater Pollution Claim under Federal Tort Claims Act June 2003

Colorado Supreme Court Adopts Doctrine of Continuing Nuisance for Groundwater Contamination. May 2003

Third District Holds Brown Act Does Not Require Open Meeting to Evaluate Performance of Independent Contractor Acting as LAFCO Executive Director June 2009

Second District Strikes Down City’s Extension of Ordinance Restricting Development in Residential Zones January 2010

Second District Court Finds Late Night City Council Meetings Not Properly Challenged by Two Santa Monica City Council Members January 2007

District Court in Louisiana Holds that RCRA Citizen Suit May Be Used to Enjoin Future Conduct January 2004

Show Me the Evidence—District Court Remands on Fish and Wildlife Service’s Final Rule Designating Critical Habitat for Vernal Pool Species January 2007

News from the West: The Struggle of State Versus Federal Control over Water Resources January 2006

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Reconsider Critical Habitat Designation for Five Species in the Wake of a Settlement in Home Builders Association of Northern California v. U.S May 2006

District Court Throws Out Critical Habitat Designation for Alameda Whipsnake July 2003

Court of Appeal Upholds City of Napa's Inclusionary Housing Ordinance October 2001

Arizona Appeals Court Halts Suit to Overturn Arizona's Groundwater Code and Extend the Public Trust Doctrine to Water Flowing in Streams and Groundwater Connected to Those Streams October 2002

Fifth District Upholds Adoption of Several Development Impact Fees—Finds Fees Survive Scrutiny under Mitigation Fee Act and Quimby Act August 2010

Fifth Circuit Looks to Parties’ Agreement to Deny a Company’s Claims against Its Subsidiary for Attorney’s Fees Generated in CERCLA/RCRA Actions September 2005

D.C. Circuit Holds that EPA Need Not Consider Potential Remedy when Listing Site on the National Priorities List September 2004

First District Court Rejects Challenge to San Francisco’s Decision to Issue Variance as Time-Barred May 2005

Trenton New Jersey Sued in County Court for ‘Taxation without Representation’ Due to Its Alleged Diversions of Water Rate Revenue to General Projects November 2008

Second District Court Clarifies the Meaning of a “Big Box Retailer” under AB 178. February 2005

Ninth Circuit Upholds Oakland City Ordinances Aimed at Cleaning Up Area Hotels November 2003

New Jersey Supreme Court Holds Evidence of Contamination Inadmissible During Condemnation Proceedings September 2003

New Jersey Court Allows Environmental Contamination to Reduce Market Value in Condemnation Proceedings February 2003

Municipality May Not Impose a Flat Fee on Water, Refuse, or Sewer Utilities under Proposition 218 July 2002

City's Storm Drainage Fee Is a Property-related Fee under Prop 218. August 2002

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Lawsuit Challenges Stockton’s Use of Water Fee December 2006

Fifth District Court Prohibits Fresno from Imposing In Lieu Fee to Recover General Costs Incurred by Utility Departments May 2005

Storm Drainage Fee Imposed on "Each and Every Parcel of Developed Land" Is a Property-related Fee Requiring Voter Approval under Prop 218 August 2002

Third District Court to Review Decision of Superior Court Upholding Water District’s Groundwater Charge under Proposition 218 October 2008

Mississippi Supreme Court Clarifies Obligation to Exhaust Administrative Remedies before Filing Environmental Tort Suits May 2005

District Court Holds Cleanup and Abatement Order Not Subject to Clean Water Act Citizen Suit February 2007

Indiana Court of Appeal Finds Marketable Title to Real Property May Be Transferred Despite the Presence of Contamination August 2003

U.S. Army Corps’ Rejection of 404 Permit Application for Noise Violations Upheld by U.S. District Court March 2008

Post Hurricane Katrina Lawsuits Press On—District Court Dismisses Class Action July 2007

President Bush Visits the Hurricane Katrina Region on the Day after Claims Filing Cutoff Spurs Avalanche of Claims Totaling More than $77 Billion against the United States April 2007

U.S. Army Corps Blanket Defense of Sovereign Immunity Rejected by District Court in One Strand of the Consolidated Hurricane Katrina Canal Breaches Litigation April 2007

Fourth District Court Rejects the City of Orange’s Attempt to “Take Advantage of Its Own Wrong” in Condemnation Proceeding November 2004

Texas Court Rules State Water Agency Has Exclusive Jurisdiction over Provision of Water by Retail Public Utility January 2006

New Mexico Supreme Court Settles Law of Leases and Agency In Water Rights February 2008

New Mexico Court of Appeals Clarifies Law of Leases and Agency in Water Rights August 2006