» Cost Recovery

Washington Supreme Court Holds Investigation Costs Qualify As Remedial Costs Even When No Cleanup Is Required, But Prevailing Party Status Determination Was Premature

In Douglass v. Shamrock Paving, Inc., 2017 Wash. LEXIS 1149 (December 21, 2017), the Washington Supreme Court held that soil testing conducted by a landowner qualified as a “remedial action” under the state’s Model Toxics Control Act Read More

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The District Court for the Central District of California recently held in an unpublished opinion that a party cannot bring a CERCLA § 107(a) cost recovery action for response costs which relate to a common liability shared with an earlier §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

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

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