A district court held that a town may go forward with its RCRA and common law tort claims against an oil company for soil and groundwater contamination on and around a property formerly occupied by a gasoline service station. The company argued that the town failed to allege an "imminent and substan...

A district court held that a water treatment company who purchased ferrous chloride crystals is jointly and severally liable for cleanup costs incurred after the bags in which the crystals were originally packaged leaked during their transport from Taiwan to California. The court previously ruled th...

A district court held that a group of PRPs in connection with a former hazardous waste incinerator in Kentucky may go forward with their CERCLA cost recovery and contribution claims against a group of companies that allegedly generated and/or transported hazardous waste to the site. The companies ar...

A district court held that an insurance company may go forward with its CERCLA claim against several refrigerator waste oil companies for reimbursement of payments it incurred following a hazardous waste spill by its insured. In Chubb Custom Insurance Co. v. Space Systems/Loral Inc., 710 F.3d 946, 4...

The Seventh Circuit held that a lower court should have awarded a real estate firm double damages for harm caused by an oil company during its attempt to clean up pollution at gas stations in Michigan the firm leased to it. The firm filed a breach of contract claim and a waste claim for eight sites ...

The Second Circuit affirmed in part, and vacated and remanded in part, a lower court's allocation of contribution costs in connection with the remediation of two Niagara Falls, New York, properties. Below, the lower court held a chemical manufacturer liable to a solvent company for contribution. On ...

A district court held that "coke oven gas condensate" (COGC) is not a solid waste under RCRA. The case arose after the U.S. government filed suit against a coke production facility for RCRA and CAA violations. The government alleged that COGC at the facility displays the toxicity characteristic for ...

The Third Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a lower court decision dismissing as time barred a state environmental agency's CERCLA lawsuit seeking reimbursement of response costs incurred at a former landfill. The defendants argued that the agency's action at the site was a "removal" acti...

A New Jersey appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a trial court decision dismissing without prejudice property owners' complaint alleging their property had been contaminated by chemicals discharged from a neighboring dry cleaning business. The New Jersey Environmental Rights Act all...

A district court held that the owner of a vacant property is liable under CERCLA for the release of hazardous waste intentionally caused by trespassers. The owner, who left oil drums on the property, claimed she was entitled to the innocent landowner defense. But she failed to show by a preponderanc...