A federal judge in the Southern District of Florida has recommended that an on-going Clean Water Act (CWA) case be resolved in favor of the defendant landowner in one of the first court opinions to interpret and apply the 2023 Supreme Court decision Sackett v. EPA.

 

According to the judge’s Report and Recommendation, a legal action initiated by the federal government against a landowner accused of polluting wetlands on his property without a CWA permit. Last year, the Supreme Court held in Sackett that a wetland only fell under CWA jurisdiction if it shared a continuous surface connection with a water body that itself falls under CWA jurisdiction. While the Report and Recommendation is not the final decision in the case, it sheds light on how courts may apply Sackett going forward.

 

The National Agricultural Law Center discusses the case further in its recent article, “WOTUS Update: Judge Recommends Resolving CWA Dispute in Favor of Landowner Following Sackett Decision.”