A bankruptcy court denied a company's motion to dismiss a bankruptcy trustee's CERCLA §107 claim against it for response costs incurred by the debtor to EPA, New York, and a manufacturer as a result of the debtor's settlement of their CERCLA claims. The company argued that the trustee cannot recove...

A district court held that the bar to transfer of CERCLA liability applies to contribution claims brought between and among third parties, not just the U.S. government. CERCLA §107(e)(1) provides that "no indemnification, hold harmless, or similar agreement or conveyance shall be effective to trans...

A district court denied a mining company's motion to dismiss a smelting company's contribution claim against it for response costs and natural resources damages incurred at an old smelting operation in the Southeast Missouri Mining District. The mining company argued that the smelting company, which...

A district court denied a group of companies' motion for summary judgment challenging the government's remedy for cleaning up PCB contamination in Wisconsin's Fox River. The companies argued that the administrative record is fatally incomplete due to the destruction of certain computer model data an...

The Seventh Circuit upheld a lower court's preliminary injunction compelling a PRP to complete the remediation work concerning PCB contamination at the Fox River in Wisconsin that was scheduled for this year. The PRP has performed a significant amount of cleanup at the site. But in 2011 it decided t...

A district court held that a paper company that sold "broke," a byproduct of its manufacturing process, to paper recyclers was not an arranger under CERCLA for PCB contamination in a river. The company lacked knowledge that broke could be hazardous; it invested money and labor in treating, sorting, ...

The Third Circuit vacated as moot a lower court decision that dismissed a contractor's third-party complaint against Pennsylvania and the commonwealth's natural resources agency for cleanup costs associated with Quehanna Wild Area Nuclear Site. The contractor argued that the lower court erred by...

A district court held that a Canadian mining company, if found liable under CERCLA, will be subject to joint and several liability for response costs incurred by the state of Washington and a Native American tribe along a portion of the Upper Columbia River. In this case, the harm is the entiret...

A district court held that a property owner may go forward with its RCRA claims against neighboring property owners for groundwater and soil contamination, but it dismissed the owner's CERCLA claim against a water district that operated a sewer line between the two properties. The owner adequate...

A district court dismissed an insurance company's CERCLA claim against a tree nursery to recover response costs incurred by firefighters responding to a fire. The fire involved chlorine, a hazardous substance, and the company asserted that its insureds--two fire companies—"removed" and "remediated...