ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20261
No(s). 14 Civ. 01383 (S.D.N.Y. Nov 21, 2014) (Schofield, J.)

A district court granted in part and denied in part motions to dismiss property owners' CERCLA contribution claims against a company for contamination stemming from a manufactured gas plant that the company's predecessor operated from the 1830s until the early 1900s. In 2010, some of the property owners entered their property into a New York Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP), which was created to encourage the voluntarily remediation of brownfield sites for reuse and redevelopment. All of the owners then filed their contribution claims in 2014. The company argued the claims were barred by the statute of limitations. But despite the company's arguments to the contrary, the BCP owners' admission into the cleanup program did not trigger the statute of limitations period. Because these owners entered into the program on December 31, 2010, and entered into a tolling agreement within the statute's three-year limitations period, their §113 claim is timely. However, claims under §§107 and 113 provide mutually exclusive remedies; as such, the BCP owners may not proceed under §107. Conversely, for the owners that did not enter into the program, their §113 claims are dismissed. But they may seek contribution under CERCLA §107 because the complaint is unclear as to when they began remedial action.