ELR Citation: ELR 20290
No(s). 05-55962 (9th Cir. Nov 28, 2007)

The Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded a district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants, alleged "arrangers" who sold lead-containing materials to the facility's operators, because under the useful product doctrine a reasonable finder of fact could infer from the evidence that some of the transactions at issue involved arrangements for disposal or treatment of a hazardous waste. Business entities may be defined as arrangers under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act where the sale of a useful product or byproduct: (1) necessarily and immediately results in leakage of hazardous substances; (2) involves a price for the product that is not linked to applicable market values; (3) is intended to result in the processing or disposal of a hazardous component; and/or (4) does not involve a primary product of the seller.