A district court dismissed a town's Massachusetts Oil and Hazardous Material Release Prevention and Response Act claim against the corporate spinoffs of Old Monsanto, the sole manufacturer of PCBs in the United States between 1935 and 1979. After discovering PCBs in some of the area schools, the tow...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that mere knowledge of continuing spills and leaks is insufficient grounds for holding a company liable as an arranger under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Under the plain language of CERCLA §107(a)(3), an entity may q...
The U.S. Supreme Court adopted a Special Master's determination that Nebraska "knowingly failed" to comply with its obligations under a 2002 settlement agreement that resolved an underlying water allocation dispute between Nebraska and Kansas. The settlement established mechanisms to accurately meas...
The Texas Supreme Court reinstated a jury verdict in favor of a waste disposal facility in a trespass case filed against it by a neighboring rice farm. At trial, the farm argued that deep subsurface wastewater from the facility trespassed beneath its property, but the jury returned a verdict in the ...
A district court held that an insurance company must defend and indemnify a manufacturing company for its costs responding to contamination at a landfill. The insurer argued that the policy's pollution exclusion clause barred coverage because the company intentionally discharged its waste into the l...
A district court held that CERCLA §113(f)(2) does not afford the U.S. government protection from contribution claims brought by a third-party PRP in a case involving cleanup costs incurred at the Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site in Pennsylvania. The U.S. government entered into a settlement agreemen...
A district court held that a corporation may be held liable under CERCLA for contamination stemming from smelting operations in the early 1900s by a subsidiary of the corporation's predecessor. Considering the totality of the circumstances, the smelting company was the alter ego of the corporation's...
A Pennsylvania court affirmed a lower court order granting the Pennsylvania Department of the Environment's (PaDEP's) petition to investigate, remediate, and clean up contamination on private property under the Pennsylvania Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act (HSCA). The property became contaminated after a...
The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the general six-year statute of limitations for injury to real property does not apply to private claims for contribution made pursuant to the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act). The case arose after a commercial property owner sought to ...