Yesterday in two parallel class action interlocutory appeals, the Sixth Circuit joined the Third Circuit in holding that the Clean Air Act does not preempt state common law tort claims related to air pollution.  The first case, Merrick v. Diageo Americas Supply, Inc., involved excess ethanol emissions from Johnny Walker and J&B brand whiskey distilleries located in Louisville, Kentucky that allegedly caused the growth of a specific type of mold on neighboring properties.  The proposed class of local property owners asserted claims for negligence, nuisance, trespass, and injunctive relief, relying on violations of a local ordinance that prohibited air pollution which caused “injury, detriment, nuisance, or annoyance to any considerable number of persons or to the public.”  The second case, Little v. Louisville Gas & Electric Co., involved dust and coal ash emissions from a coal-fired power plant which effected local residents, and which were the subject of multiple notices of violation issued to the power company.  The class action claims in Little included claims for violations of the federal Clean Air Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, as well as state common law claims for nuisance, trespass, negligence, negligence per se, and gross negligence.  In both cases, United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky allowed the common law claims to survive defendants’ motions to dismiss, ruling that the common law claims were not preempted by the federal Clean Air Act.   Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Case Update, Citizen Suit, Class Actions, Clean Air Act, Decisions of Note, Emissions, Negligence, Nuisance, Preemption, Sixth Circuit

On March 13, 2013, the First Circuit issued its opinion in Paolino v. JF Realty, LLC,No. 12-2031 (1st Cir. Marc. 13, 2013), reversing in part the District Court’s dismissal of a Citizen’s Suit brought pursuant to the Clean Water Act, and in so doing addressing an “issue of first impression in the First Circuit as to the standard for measuring the sufficiency of the mandatory pre-suit notice which must be given” before such a suit can be brought.   Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizen Suit, Clean Water Act, Federal Procedure, Procedure

As most of our readers know, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)gives the EPA control over  the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste, often described as “cradle-to-grave” coverage of hazardous wastes.  One of its provisions, 42 U.S.C. § 6972(a)(1)(B), allows any person to bring suit against another “who has contributed . . . to the past or present handling, storage, treatment, transportation, or disposal of any solid or hazardous waste which may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment.” Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizen Suit, Contamination, Cost Recovery, RCRA, Waste

In the second appellate case within the past year addressing the “diligent prosecution” bar under environmental citizen suit provisions, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held last week that the Clean Water Act’s bar on citizen suits when governmental enforcement action is underway is not jurisdictional – reversing the dismissal of a citizen suit at the Rule 12(b)(6) stage, and remanding the case for further proceedings before the district court. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Cases to Watch, Citizen Suit, Clean Water Act, Decisions of Note, Diligent Prosecution, Subject Matter Jurisdiction