RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

November 2007

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Ninth Circuit Holds that the Clean Air Act’s Criminal Provisions Define ‘Asbestos’ Differently than the Act’s Civil Provisions
U.S. v. Grace, ___F.3d___

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a District Court’s importation of the civil regulatory definition of “asbestos” into the criminal provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA), holding that the term had two definitions—one civil and one criminal. In determining the criminal definition, the Court of Appeals applied rules of construction, construing the term “asbestos” in accordance with its common meaning. This meaning is broader than the civil regulatory definition, which limits the term to six specific asbestiform minerals.