Painstaking Negotiation Leads to Landmark Court Order Approving Settlement Agreement in Hyde Park Hazardous Waste Cleanup Litigation

July 1982
Citation:
12
ELR 15013
Issue
7
Author
Barry J. Trilling

On April 30, 1982, United States District Court Judge John T. Curtin of the Eastern District of New York issued his decision and order approving a settlement agreement between plaintiffs and defendants in United States v. Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp.,1—the Hooker Hyde Park Landfill case. This was one of four cases filed in December 1979 by the federal government against the company for its waste disposal practices in Niagara Falls, New York. The decision, issued more than 16 months after the parties submitted the agreement to the court for approval, followed several public meetings and hearings, including an eight day "trial" in which opponents of the agreement were given the opportunity to present evidence and cross examine the witnesses of the parties in support of the agreement. The attempt of the parties to address all the uncertainties inherent in controlling pollution from hazardous chemical disposal sites, as well as the unprecedented testing and eventual wholehearted judicial approval of the Hyde Park settlement agreement, suggest that it will become a standard against which to gauge the resolution of subsequent disputes concerning the clean up of hazardous waste disposal sites.

This Article describes the historical context in which the Hyde Park case arose, summarizes the most significant technical and legal mechanisms of the settlement agreement, and identifies the critical factors leading to the success of the negotiations among the parties.

Mr. Trilling was the U.S. Justice Department attorney supervising the litigation and negotiation for the government in its cases against the Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp. concerning Love Canal,  Hyde Park, and Hooker's other hazardous waste landfills in Niagara Falls, New York. Since February 1981, he has been a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Trilling & Kennedy.

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