ELR Citation: ELR 20076
No(s). 89-0703-CV-W-1 (W.D. Mo. Feb 21, 1990)

The court holds that potentially responsible parties (PRPs) that entered into settlements with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to resolve their Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) liability are protected under CERCLA §113(f)(2) from counterclaims by de minimis nonsettlors for contribution, and no basis in law or fact supports the nonsettlers' claims for noncontractual indemnity from settlors. After EPA notified PRPs of their potential liability for the treatment and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls at the Rose facility in Missouri, certain PRPs entered into an administrative consent order with EPA, and later sought declaration of nonsettling PRPs' liability and contribution. The court first finds that case law and federal common law support protecting settling parties from contribution claims by nonsettling parties. Since plaintiffs have entered into settlements with EPA's administrative approval, thus making them liable parties under CERCLA, the protections of CERCLA §113(f)(2) apply to preclude and preempt the nonsettlors' actions for contribution. The nonsettlors' counterclaims, which allege that plaintiffs' contribution actions might result in the nonsettlors' paying more than their fair share of the cleanup costs, lack merit, since CERCLA §107(a) provides for joint and several liability, the nonsettlors could have obtained certainty in their liability by settling, and they could have acquired protection from suits for contribution. The court thus holds that the nonsettlors' counterclaims for contribution must be dismissedfor failure to state a claim.