CERCLA Liability After Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. U.S.

Description

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. U.S. significantly changed the landscape for liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA).

The limits to the pool of potentially responsible parties (PRPs) that were imposed by the Court’s ruling make it more difficult to recover any orphan share a PRP pays up front. As a result, it may be a disincentive to settle liability issues early.

The Court held Superfund liability is not joint and several where there is a reasonable basis for apportionment. The lowering of the bar for avoiding joint and several liability gives arrangers and landowners a strong argument to minimize liability in negotiations and litigation with the government.

Listen as our authoritative panel of environmental law attorneys reviews the Supreme Court’s ruling, examines how courts are applying the decision, the implications for CERCLA liability, and offers best practices for reducing liability and recovering remediation costs.

Outline

1. Brief overview of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. U.S.
   1. Supreme Court’s decision
   2. Court treatment
2. Arranger liability
   1. Impact of the decision
   2. Limitations
   3. How are courts applying BNSF?
3. Cost recovery
   1. Joint and several liability
   2. Government cost recover actions
   3. Unilateral 106 orders
   4. Increased litigation
   5. Coverage for orphan shares
   6. Impact on landowner liability
4. Best practices for reducing cleanup liability and recovering remediation costs
   1. Minimizing CERCLA liability
   2. Recovering remediation costs from other PRPs

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• How have courts applied the Burlington Northern decision?
• What is the impact of narrowed arranger liability for landowners?
• What are the key steps for recovering remediation costs from other PRPs?

Webinar/Teleconference

Strafford webinars/teleconferences offer several options for participation: online viewing of speaker-controlled PowerPoint presentations with audio via computer speakers or via phone; or audio only via telephone (download speaker handouts prior to the program).  Please note that our webinars do not feature videos of the presenters.

CLE Credit

Strafford's live seminars qualify for CLE in every state that accredits webinars. They offer you a high quality, cost effective, and convenient CLE option, with no lost travel time or expenses.

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