The court holds that the U.S. government is not liable as an operator under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for hazardous waste cleanup costs at an abandoned mine site. The court first holds that CERCLA clearly exposes the federal government to suit...
One of the most prominent issues in the Congressional debate over reauthorization of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) has been how to reduce "transaction costs" while at the same time fairly and expeditiously resolving liability disputes. This Dialogue asks: Would the allocation procedures proposed in last year's Superfund reauthorization bills meet those sometimes conflicting goals?
The court holds that a potentially responsible party (PRP) must pay 1 percent of the past and future response costs incurred during the cleanup of a contaminated site in Salt Lake City, Utah, by a committee of PRPs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERC...
The court holds that a defendant-operator company and a defendant-transporter company are liable under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) for costs incurred in cleaning up the MIG/De Wane Superfund site in Illinois, and orders them each to pay over $2 ...
The court holds that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Eastern Enterprises v. Apfel, 118 S. Ct. 2131 (1998), does not undercut the constitutionality of retroactive liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). In Eastern Enterprises, the Supre...
The court holds that a pesticide manufacturing partnership is liable for response costs in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §113 contribution action brought by the corporation that purchased the partnership's assets. The court first holds that the val...
The court holds that two customers of an electroplating company did not "arrange for" the disposal of the company's hazardous waste under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) §107(a), and, therefore, the company could not seek contribution from the customer...
The court awards an individual's attorneys $95,153.02 in attorney fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) for defending the individual in a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) suit brought by the government. The government sued the in...
The court holds that an interstate radioactive waste commission can sue a member state for violating the good-faith provisions of a radioactive waste compact. The court first holds that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar the commission's suit against the state. Congress has the plenary power to att...
The court affirms a district court decision denying a steel company's motion to recover attorney fees from an environmental group under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) §326. The group notified the company that it had missed several EPCRA reporting deadlines. Before th...