» CERCLA

Second Circuit Holds That Single-Remediation Principle for CERCLA’s Statute of Limitations Does Not Apply in All Circumstances

In a new opinion applying CERCLA’s statute of limitations, the Second Circuit held in MPM Silicones, LLC v. Union Carbide Corp. (2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 23060) that the Circuit’s “single-remediation principle” does not categorically apply in all… Read More

Ninth Circuit Holds District Courts Must Engage In An Independent Substantive Evaluation Of CERCLA Consent Decrees And May Not Afford A State Agency The Same Level Of Deference As EPA

In State of Arizona v. Raytheon Co.. et al., Case No. 12-15691, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 14993 (9th Cir. Aug. 1, 2014), the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed the requirement that district courts engage in meaningful substantive review of consent decrees under the… Read More
Categories: CERCLA

District Court Holds that Prior CERCLA § 107(a) Cost Recovery Action Against a Party Limits the Party to § 113(f)(1) Contribution Claim in Subsequent Action

The District Court for the Central District of California recently held in an unpublished opinion that a party cannot bring a CERCLA § 107(a) cost recovery action for response costs which relate to a common liability shared with an earlier § 107(a)… Read More

New EPA Policy Re: Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Benefits for Tenants

In December 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) adopted a new policy setting forth the conditions on which the agency will consider providing CERCLA bona fide prospective purchaser (BFPP) protection to tenants who lease formerly or… Read More

Fourth Circuit Holds Zero-Share Apportionment Unavailable to Current Owner or Operator PRPs but Affirms Zero-Share Allocation; Rejects Bona Fide Prospective Purchaser Defense Due to a Failure to Exercise Appropriate Care

By Michael Einhorn and Tiffany Hedgpeth In PCS Nitrogen Inc. v. Ashley II of Charleston, the Fourth Circuit (“Court”) affirmed the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina’s rulings addressing CERCLA liability at a former fertiliz… Read More

State Law Claims by Private PRP Are Not Preempted by CERCLA § 107 Claim, at Least Initially

On March 18, a New York federal district court held that a company seeking to recoup the response costs it incurred cleaning up contamination at a former chemical plant initially may maintain state law claims as well as a cost recovery claim under CE… Read More

Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Subrogated Claims Brought Under CERCLA Sections 107(a) and 112(c), as well as State Law Theories

By Tiffany Hedgpeth and Michael Einhorn On March 15, 2013, the Ninth Circuit held in Chubb Custom Ins. Co. v. Space Systems/Loral, Inc., Case No. 11-16272, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 5198 (9th Cir., March 15, 2013), that the insurer Chubb Custom Insurance… Read More

Supreme Court denies petition by Solutia, Inc. to address whether a party to a consent decree may file a cost recovery action under CERCLA Section 107(a).

On October 9, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the petition of Solutia, Inc. and Pharmacia Corporation to review a March 6, 2012 ruling by the Eleventh Circuit which affirmed a grant of summary judgment and held that parties subject to a consent d… Read More

Federal Court Dismisses CERCLA Suit based on Lack of Necessary Response Costs

By Clare Bienvenu & John D. Edgcomb In Stratford Holding, LLC v. Fog Cap Retail Investors, et al., Stratford Holding LLC (“Stratford”) sued its lessees, Fog Cap Retail Investors LLC (“Fog Cap”) and Foot Locker Retail Inc. (“Foot Locker… Read More

Federal District Court Allows Chevron to Proceed with a CERCLA § 107 Cost Recovery Action to Attempt to Hold Non-Settling “Smaller Responsible Parties” Jointly and Severally Liable for All Response Costs

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of California denied defendants’ motion to dismiss in Chevron’s CERCLA § 107 cost recovery action against them in connection with the EPC Eastside Disposal Facility site outside of Bakers… Read More