Toxic Torts, Administrative Law, Civil Procedure

Winning the Superfund Remedy Fight in Court: Don’t Count On It

by Robert S. Sanoff | Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 11/30/2012

Remedy decisions are almost always won or lost at the agency level. Once the ROD issues, a PRP’s chance of having the selected remedy overturned in court is slim to none – a point that was driven home in a recent decision in...more

State of New Jersey Unsuccessful in Trying to Expand Environmental Liability

by Saul Ewing LLP on 9/27/2012

Any company handling hazardous substances in New Jersey must be aware that while the state was recently unsuccessful in expanding liability for damages under the Spill Act, the Supreme Court clarified what constitutes a...more

LITIGATION UPDATE: Writ of Certiorari filed in Solutia, Inc. v. McWane, Inc.

by Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger... on 8/24/2012

Recently, Solutia Inc. and Pharmacia Corporation filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling that a Potentially Responsible Party (“PRP”) conducting a...more

Court Invalidates NJDEP Cleanup Rule For De Minimus Quantity Exemptions

by Cole Schotz on 7/13/2012

On July 6, 2012, the New Jersey Appellate Division, in the case of Des Champs Laboratories, Inc. v. NJDEP, invalidated the NJDEP’s regulation requiring an owner or operator of an industrial establishment to certify that their...more

Justices Weigh Arguments on Stacking in Toxic Tort Cases

by Barger & Wolen on 6/6/2012

California Supreme Court justices heard arguments recently in a novel case that could significantly impact the amount insurers must pay to clean up toxic waste....more

Apportionment in CERCLA -- No Bright Line Test

by Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law on 5/2/2012

The Lower Fox River Superfund site continues to pump out decisions on key CERCLA issues. Most recently, the federal court in Wisconsin in US v. NCR Corp. took on the issue of divisibility of harm in granting a preliminary...more

McAfee & Taft RegLINC - April 2012: Storage tanks By Chris Paul

by McAfee & Taft on 4/18/2012

Owners of land on which petroleum underground storage tanks are located are responsible for the cleanup of gasoline released (In re Huntington and Kildare Inc. v. Grannis, N. Y. App. Div., No. 512100, 11/3/11). Huntington and...more

McAfee & Taft RegLINC - April 2012: Halliburton evidence on Deepwater Horizon

by McAfee & Taft on 4/13/2012

BP accused Halliburton of destroying evidence that could be important in the litigation over responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (In re: Oil Spill, E.D. La., No. 2:10-md-2179, 12/5/11). BP questioned whether a...more

Essex Chemical Successfully Challenges NJDEP's Natural Resource Damage Suit

by Cole Schotz on 4/13/2012

The New Jersey Appellate Division sides with Essex Chemical Corporation, a subsidiary of DOW Chemical, in a suit filed by the NJDEP in its effort to obtain both restoration and compensatory natural resource damages (“NRDs”)...more

Reactions to Lead Paint Ruling Beginning to Surface

by Niles, Barton & Wilmer, LLP on 2/17/2012

In October, the Maryland Court of Appeals issued a very disappointing ruling in the lead paint case of Jackson v. Dackman Co., which nullified a long-standing Maryland statute that granted qualified immunity from lead paint...more

Seventh Circuit Allows Claims Splitting in Downers Grove, IL Environmental Case

by Dave Scriven-Young on 1/10/2011

New blog entry on Seventh Circuit opinion allowing claims splitting in Downers Grove, Illinois environmental case. This article was written by Dave Scriven-Young, an attorney with Peckar & Abramson, PC, and was originally...more