Natural Resource Damages & Environmental Justice
As a general rule, the law will not allow plaintiffs to sit on legal rights indefinitely. Superfund actions are no exception. The 6th Circuit recently applied this principle, finding a declaratory judgment of liability...more
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today, December 3, in a CERCLA case that could have ramifications for environmental law practitioners around the country. The case, Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian (“the...more
A case currently pending before the United States Supreme Court may significantly impact legal rights of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) involved in the cleanup of Superfund Sites. The case was brought in Montana State...more
Welcome to the second 2019 issue of Product Lines – our quarterly e-newsletter that focuses on toxic torts and products liability issues. For this edition, we are reporting on several important and timely legal issues. As...more
The natural resource damage assessment (NRDA) process has evolved since its inception in the late 1970s. The innovations keep coming. In 2016, a third-party “credit banking” mechanism was used for the first time to settle...more
In a “case of first impression,” U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit,texascapitol sitting in Austin, in TCEQ v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, et al., issued an important decision interpreting the scope of the Texas Solid...more
Everyone is familiar with the two little words - “as is” - that pop up in real estate contracts. The “as is” clause is a means of allocating risk between seller and buyer. Generally, a seller who sells property “as is” will...more
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, is a federal law under which contaminated sites are identified and evaluated by the Environmental Protection...more
A Wisconsin district court has ruled that NCR Corporation’s liability for contamination in the Fox River is limited to NCR’s share of contamination contributed to the river....more
On May 19, a district court ruled that a company had established divisibility for its liability at a major downstream segment of the Fox River mega-site in Wisconsin, capping its liability for that segment at 28%. This same...more
Tenants who lease currently or formerly contaminated property can now benefit from protections from cleanup liability that were once available only to purchasers of such property. EPA announced its new policy in a December...more
In a recent ruling of interest to any company named as a potentially responsible party (“PRP”) at a Superfund site anywhere in the country, the Alabama Supreme Court has followed the majority of state courts and held that a...more