A matter concerning environmental cleanup was tried before a referee pursuant to stipulation and judgment was entered by the trial court adopting the referee’s recommendations. Finding numerous errors, the Court of Appeal reversed. First, the appellate court found extrinsic evidence should not have been introduced in interpreting the contract. ng Second, the appellate court concluded […]
Petition Denied; Had It Been Granted, It Would Have Resulted In 1,491 Mini-Trials.
A mass tort litigation over environmental contamination beneath a housing track settled, and the court was called upon to address whether a government-ordered environmental cleanup was part of the settlement consideration, and whether a good faith settlement could be approved without an individualized allocation of the settlement proceeds among the numerous plaintiffs and between their economic and noneconomic damages.
OMG. . . A Subway In 90210!!
To reach a subway station, a planned subway will travel under Beverly Hills High School. Both the City of Beverly Hills and the Beverly Hills Unified School District objected to the placement of a subway tunnel under the high school or any other properties located in Beverly Hills. Their objection was based on the environmental […]
Water Projects Halted; Southern And Central California Losing The Water Wars.
The Central Valley Project and the State Water Project “are perhaps the two largest and most important water projects in the United States. These combined water projects supply water originating in northern California to more than 20,000,000 agricultural and domestic consumers in central and southern California.” The source of the water is the lone habitat […]
Ongoing And Gradual Earth Movement Does Not Result In Lot Line Displacements.
In 1956, road construction by Los Angeles County in a then unincorporated area of the Palos Verdes Hills known as Portugese Bend accidentally reactivated a sub-surface prehistoric slide area. That incident sent just under one square mile of hillside property on an ongoing, slow-motion, downhill journey that inexorably leads to a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. […]
No Showing Reservation Of Rights By Insurers Creates A Conflict Of Interest.
A city brought an action against a dry cleaner under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act [CERCLA; 42 U.S.C. § 9601] for causing soil and groundwater contamination. The dry cleaner asserted a third party claim against the supplier of dry cleaning products, and the supplier tendered its defense to certain insurance companies. The insurers […]
County Plastic Bag Prohibition Upheld.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors enacted Ordinance No. 3553 in January 2011. Effective January 1, 2012, the ordinance prohibits certain retail establishments from dispensing single-use plastic bags and requires retailers to impose a reasonable charge of not less than five cents for dispensing a single-use, recycled-content paper bag. An agricultural commissioner’s report stated that […]