32 ELR 20701 -- LeClercq v. Lockformer Co.

LeClercq v. Lockformer Co.

No. 00 C 7164 (UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS May 6, 2002)

ELR Digest

The court holds that the subsidiary of a corporation is the source of trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination of the groundwater of a class of neighboring property owners suing the subsidiary and the corporation under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the Resource Conservation and Recover Act, and common law. The court first grants summary judgment to the owners on the issue of the source of the TCE. From 1969 to 2001, 90,000 gallons of TCE were delivered to the subsidiary, and neither the subsidiary nor the corporation dispute the fact that the subsidiary released TCE into the soil. Moreover, substantial evidence indicates that the TCE releases by the subsidiary migrated in a southerly direction toward the owners' class area. Further, the subsidiary provides only a mere scintilla of evidence that the contamination did not flow toward the owners' class area. Similarly, other evidence offered by the subsidiary and the corporation is easily discredited. Presented with substantial evidence of the TCE in the class area, and no substantial evidence to support the subsidiary's and the corporation's hypothesis of other TCE sources, no reasonable jury could find that the subsidiary is not the source of the TCE.

The full text of this decision is available from ELR (5 pp., ELR Order No. L-523).

Counsel for Plaintiffs
Norman Berger
Varga, Berger, Ledsky, Hayes & Casey
224 S. Michigan Ave., Ste. 350, Chicago IL 60604
(312) 341-9400

Counsel for Defendants
David Tecson
Fumagalli, Tecson, Hyman & Brent
30 S. Wacker Dr., Ste. 2600, Chicago IL 60606
(312) 444-9300

[OPINION OMITTED BY PUBLISHER IN ORIGINAL SOURCE]