A district court held that a mining company will not face CERCLA liability as a successor to another company because there was no overlap in ownership. The mining company and a lumber company purchased adjacent lots from an industrial company whose subsidiary operated a zinc and lead mine on what is...
The Second Circuit, in a summary order, affirmed a lower court decision that an insurance company has no duty to defend a plumbing company in an underlying state suit related to chemical contamination at Love Canal near Niagara Falls, New York. The allegations in the state action fall within the ins...
The Ninth Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, held that the United States is not liable under CERCLA for hazardous waste contamination at a former mine site in Idaho. A district court held the owners of the site liable for EPA's and the U.S. Forest Service's cleanup costs at the site, and the owners...
The First Circuit struck down two Puerto Rican municipalities' ban of the disposal of coal ash at landfills within their borders. In 2015, Puerto Rico's Environmental Quality Board (EQB) approved a request from two landfills to receive coal ash from a coal-fired energy plant. Two years prior, the mu...
A district court held that an insurer is not liable for damages in connection with environmental cleanup costs stemming from a biofuel firm's recycling of catfish and other oils. The biofuel firm entered into a fat, oil, and grease recycling agreement (FOG) with a catfish company and rented property...
A district court found that an Indiana Superfund law allows for contribution claims even though the law does not directly reference them. In 2013, a hardware manufacturing company was found liable by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) for releases of hazardous substances on an...
A Pennsylvania court denied an insurer's motion for summary judgment, holding that it had no obligation to defend or indemnify toxic waste claims against its policyholder that occurred after the end of its policy. The policyholder was insured by the defendant from 1969 to 1979. In 2010, the Pennsylv...
A Pennsylvania court denied an insurer's motion for summary judgment, holding that it had no obligation to defend or indemnify toxic waste claims against its policyholder that occurred after the end of its policy. The policyholder was insured by the defendant from 1969 to 1979. In 2010, the Pennsylv...
The D.C. Circuit vacated an EPA final rule that exempted farms from reporting requirements for air releases from animal waste. In 2008 the EPA issued a final rule that generally exempts farms from CERCLA and EPCRA reporting requirements for air releases from animal waste, reasoning that the reports ...
A district court allowed a CERCLA recovery claim to go forward in a case involving mercury cleanup at the Thomas Edison light bulb factory. The plaintiff bought the property from the seller and the parties entered into an indemnification and settlement agreement (ISA). The plaintiffs brought suit ag...