A district court held that a property owner could not sue for cost recovery under CERCLA in connection with a New York property where uranium was processed for the first atomic bomb because the claim was untimely. In December 2012, the plaintiffs purchased the property from one of the defendants on ...

A district court held that cow manure can be a hazardous substance under CERCLA. A citizen group sued a dairy farm for its part in contaminating Lake San Marcos. The dairy farm moved for judgment on the pleadings on the grounds that no actionable hazardous release was claimed. The court held that CE...

The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the state hazardous waste spill law, which waives state immunity for hazardous waste suits, does not apply to spills that predate the law. In 1968, a development corporation built a seawall on state-owned land. In 2007, the state environmental department detect...

A district court held that defendants responsible for dumping hazardous waste in a town park were not liable under CERCLA because they did not know of the hazardous nature of the material dumped. In 2013, a church pastor requested permission to replace and seed the topsoil of one of the park's socce...

A district court held it had no authority to impose municipal penalties in a case involving a Kansas city's groundwater contamination claims against an oil company. The city sued the oil company in federal court for allowing benzene and other volatile organic compounds to accumulate at its propertie...

A district court denied a winery's motion to strike claims by EPA under CERCLA, the CAA, and other statutes in connection with a release of ammonia that claimed the life of one worker. In 2012, the winery experienced a 284-pound release of anhydrous ammonia from its refrigeration system. A cloud of ...

A district court held that a food company is not shielded from CERCLA liability by a settlement reached under RCRA related to the same site. EPA brought suit against the food company, a successor to the company that operated the site until 1982, for response costs the Agency occurred or would incur ...

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that a company that ran a waste treatment and disposal facility was liable for transporting hazardous waste without the proper manifest forms. The company contracted to transport waste from a polymer manufacturer's factory to its treatment facility. The company had pre...

A district court permitted a contribution suit under CERCLA against a paper company to proceed in a case involving a site in Dayton, Ohio. The site was allegedly contaminated with numerous hazardous chemicals that were used in the paper-making process over the course of 100 years. A commercial prope...

A California appellate court held that an environmental consultant hired by a lender had no duty to a prospective buyer of contaminated property. The buyer filed a negligence claim against the consultant group for an EA it performed in 2000 for her lender prior to her purchase of the property. The E...