The Tenth Circuit reversed in part and affirmed in part a lower court decision holding the seller of contaminated yet commercially viable buildings liable as an arranger under CERCLA. Due to hazardous substance contamination, the buildings were under an EPA order regulating their use. The prior owne...

The Federal Claims Court held that the U.S. government may not engage in discovery about oil companies' insurance policies in an underlying case concerning cleanup costs stemming from the production of high-octane aviation gas (avgas) during World War II. The Federal Circuit previously held that the...

A district court held that a waste broker is liable as an arranger under CERCLA and the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act (TSWDA) in connection with the disposal of waste at the U.S. Oil Recovery Superfund site in Texas. A manufacturing company hired the broker to help facilitate the movement of its wa...

A district court dismissed property owners' lawsuit against a mining company for unlawfully diverting excess wastewater into underground mine voids located beneath their land. Although the owners filed suit after the statute-of-limitations period expired, the owners argued that CERCLA's discovery ru...

The Sixth Circuit held that two administrative orders on consent (AOCs) that a power company entered into with EPA in connection with two coal gasification plants owned and operated by its predecessor in interest nearly 70 years ago do not constitute "administrative settlements" under CERCLA. Under ...

A district court granted a motion to reconsider its prior decision that a PRP established the divisibility defense and, therefore, should not be jointly and severally liable for cleanup costs at the Lower Fox River Superfund site in Wisconsin, and held that the PRP had not, in fact, established the ...

A New York appellate court held that residents may go forward with their personal injury and property damage claims against a city and various companies for failing to properly remediate toxic contamination at the Love Canal Superfund site and for allowing toxins to be released during a 2011 sewer p...

A district court granted in part and denied in part New York's motions to dismiss a company's counterclaims against it in the state's underlying CERCLA action for response costs. The state claimed that the Eleventh Amendment barred the company's counterclaims because the state has neither consented ...

The Seventh Circuit held that a utility may not seek contribution against a corporation for remediation costs the utility incurred at a former coke plant that was operated by the corporation's predecessor more than 90 years ago. In 1920, the utility and the corporation's predecessor entered into a c...

A district court held that a PRP established the divisibility defense and, therefore, is not jointly and severally liable for cleanup costs at the Lower Fox River Superfund site in Wisconsin. On remand from the Seventh Circuit, the district court was ordered to reconsider the PRP's divisibility defe...