Honolulu, Hawaii A federal court in Hawaii refused to dismiss two maintenance workers' lawsuit against the federal government after they were injured by UXO while working on the Makua Military Reservation (MMR).

The latest ruling by the court (which can be downloaded below) is another step in the long-drawn-out legal battle over an accident involving UXO at MMR. The latest ruling by the Court in this case however comes with a "twist" that has the potential to impact DoD as a whole in terms of how explosive safety policy is carried out. For background, two laborers performing groundskeeping duties for a contractor working for the Army on MMR in April 2015 were allegedly injured from an explosion caused by UXO while using commercial grade weed trimmers to cut tall grass in an area, they claimed the Army represented to them as being clear of UXO.

Approximately 3.5 years after the accident, December 2019, the two injured workers filed their initial complaint in Court followed by a complaint filed in April 2020 from the Plaintiff Intervenor,Everest National Insurance Co. The Government submitted a motion to dismiss the complaint which was subsequently granted in 2021. Case closed, right? Not so fast.

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Devon, England University of Exeter has lost its final appeal against insurers who refused to pay out for damage caused by a controlled explosion of a Nazi bomb after it was "deemed an act of war." The university will now have to pay for all damages caused by the explosion of a WWII bomb that left a huge crater the size of a double-decker bus and damaged residence halls in 2021.

Allianz, the university's insurers refused to pay out under its 'war exclusion' policy, and the Court of Appeal has now rejected its claim the exemption should not apply to historic conflicts.

Contractors working on a construction site on private land to the west of the university's campus unearthed the unexploded 1,000 kg 'Hermann bomb' in February 2021. The highly explosive device had been dropped by German forces in 1942, but had buried itself in the earth, unexploded.

The court's ruling stated that the passage of time made no difference to the war exclusion cause. In its judgment, the court of appeal judges wrote, "We do know, from the subsequent events, that the effluxion of time did nothing to reduce the potency of the bomb. Following its discovery, the relevant authorities had no sensible option but to attempt a LOT, (controlled explosion) in order to minimize any potential damage."

"The decision to attempt a LOT would obviously never have been made if the bomb had not been there, and remained live, in 2021. It might be said that, at that point, the bomb did what it was always meant to do."

The discovery of the bomb forced the evacuation of more than 2,600 people, including 1,400 university students, who had to leave the area for the 400-meter exclusion zone set up prior to the disposal of the munition.

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Dahlgren, Virginia Two environmental groups, the Potomac Riverkeeper Network and the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Navy alleging it failed to abide by the Clean Water Act with respect to the use of the Potomac River as a testing range.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Maryland as Maryland has jurisdiction over the Potomac River. The lawsuit, which can be downloaded below, seeks an order to force the Navy to apply for a permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment, which in turn would require the Navy to comply with permitting requirements (e.g., sampling, analysis, potential remediation).

The Navy's use of the Potomac River as a testing range dates back to 1918. Over the years, an estimated 33 million pounds of ordnance have been fired into the river. The use of the range continues today as deemed by the Navy as "the nation's largest fully instrumented over-water gun-firing range." The lawsuit alleges the "Navy has never performed any water quality monitoring or sediment sampling to understand the impact of its weapons testing activities on the Potomac River's ecosystem and water quality or on public health." The Navy has not released any comments on the lawsuit.

Download a copy of the lawsuit from UXOInfo.com.

West Edmonton, Canada The Enoch Cree Nation reportedly agreed to a $91M settlement from the Canadian Government as compensation for the continued clean-up of UXO at the site; loss of the use of their land; trauma that band elders experienced; and for the loss of income from the golf course which was closed due in part to UXO hazards.

The military history of the approximately 1,280 acres of First Nations land, which includes Yekau Lake, dates back to the 1940s when the Canadian Government leased land from the Enoch Cree Nation for bombing and target practice. At the time, Band Elders agreed to donate the proceeds from the lease to the war effort as part of their allegiance to Canada. At the time of the lease, the Canadian military reportedly told the Band Elders that only practice or smoke rounds would be used.

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Honolulu, Hawaii The state Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit raised by two residents over the Army's live-fire training at the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island. The lawsuit against the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) alleges that the Department failed to protect ceded lands from UXO contamination as a result of the Army's use of the area for military training.

The state Supreme Court case comes as a result of the state filling an appeal from a previous lawsuit where a circuit court judge ruled that that the state should do more to protect lands from destruction by pressuring the Army to address potential UXO at the site. In that case, the residents cited internal memos from 2011 and 2013 where DLNR acknowledged there's a likelihood or possibility of UXO on public trust ceded land yet according the plaintiffs' attorney, DLNR did nothing including never writing a letter "asking the Army can you clean things up."

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British Columbia, Canada Public records released this fall show that for a second time, the Canadian Government paid millions dollars to K & L Land Partnership for "compensation in environmental damages." The latest payment of $4.4 million comes just one year after it reached a legal settlement with the group for $11 million to avoid going to trial over claims it was negligent in failing to warn the developers about UXO on the property. Federal officials are not saying exactly why K & L Land Partnership received this second payout due to a confidentially agreement in place.

Back in 2005, K & L Land Partnership (a group 11 companies) purchased 1,349 acres of undeveloped land overlooking Lake Kalamalka near Vernon, B.C for $15 million dollars.

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Honolulu, Hawaii A lawsuit has been filed against the U.S. Army alleging violation of a 2001 court settlement. The settlement granted the native Hawaiian group Malama Makua limited access to sacred sites of Makua Valley, an area used for decades of military training.

Attorneys for the environmental law organization Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in federal court in Honolulu to protest a "blanket ban" in 2014 by the Army calling for a clearance from historic preservations to cut grass on trails leading to the cultural sites, an effort to insure any UXO in the area would be avoided. Then, in September 2015, the Army obtained a grass-cutting agreement but called for an investigation of an accident in which two contractors who were cutting grass for military training in April 2015 were injured by exploding UXO.

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Vernon, British Columbia a First Nations Tribe, has decided to file a lawsuit against the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND), for over two decades of neglecting to remove UXO from reservation lands. DND used the Okanagan Indian Band reserve lands for military training, including the firing of live munitions, between at least 1939 and 1990. The terms of the leases reportedly included stipulations that the department clean up and remove military munitions scrap and UXO once military use of the area ceased.

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Big Island, Hawaii A group of local residents are suing the State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) over UXO issues associated with the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA). The lawsuit alleges that the DLNR breached its duty to protect lands used for training by not forcing the military to clear UXO and other debris from the land. The group also wants to prevent DLNR from negotiating an extension to its current lease or entering a new lease until the trust conditions are met.

The current lease agreement, signed in 1694, between the State and the U.S. government provides for the use of over 22,800 acres at PTA until 2029 at a lease price of $1. Last year, DLNR began working on a mutual cancellation of the lease with the goal of establishing a new lease between the parties for the use of the land for military training including for live fire munitions training.

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Vancouver, British Columbia A Canadian developer is suing the Canadian Government for allegedly not disclosing that a parcel of land it purchased may contain UXO. The Developer reportedly paid $15 million for a 546-hectare parcel of land with beautiful lakeside views in 2005 with plans to develop the property into multiple residential home sites.

By 2011, however, the plans were put on hold after the company discovered the land potentially contained UXO. The site is adjacent to the former Vernon Military Camp that was used from 1939 to 1945 to train Canadian soldiers in weapons deployments. The lawsuit alleges that during those operations some of the explosives used ended up on the land that was eventually sold to the developer years later.

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