CERCLA Liability After Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. U.S.
Reducing Cleanup Liability and Recovering Remediation Costs
Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar/teleconference with Q&A
Conducted on Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Recorded event now available
This CLE seminar will analyze and discuss the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. U.S. addressing Superfund apportionment and arranger liability issues.
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
- Brief overview of Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. U.S.
- Supreme Court’s decision
- Court treatment
- Arranger liability
- Impact of the decision
- Limitations
- How are courts applying BNSF?
- Cost recovery
- Joint and several liability
- Government cost recover actions
- Unilateral 106 orders
- Increased litigation
- Coverage for orphan shares
- Impact on landowner liability
- Best practices for reducing cleanup liability and recovering remediation costs
- Minimizing CERCLA liability
- 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?
Faculty
Brian D. Israel,
Partner
Arnold & Porter, Washington, D.C.
He specializes in environmental litigation and counseling. He represents corporations in matters involving contaminated properties, including toxic tort lawsuits and natural resource damages claims. His counseling practice focuses on environmental issues in large corporate transactions, brownfields redevelopment and environmental management systems.
Steven L. Leifer,
Partner
Baker Botts, Washington, D.C.
He handles a broad array of environmentally-related litigation, including Superfund cost recovery, toxic tort and products liability litigation, insurance recovery actions, civil and criminal governmental enforcement proceedings and environmental bankruptcy claims. He litigates CERCLA claims against the government and private parties.
Ordering
Recorded Event
Includes full event recording plus handouts (available after live seminar).
CLE: Pre-approved for self-study credit in AK, AZ, CA, CT*, MO, MT, NY*, TX, VT, WA. Upon request, self-study credit is also available in: CO, FL, GA, ID, KY, LA, ME, ND, NE, NH, NM, NV, OR, UT, WI, WV, WY. If you are applying for self-study credit in one of these states, contact Strafford CLE at 1-800-926-7926 ext. 35 or CLE@straffordpub.com. (*For CT and NY, Strafford needs to process the CLE — see below to purchase this option.)
MP3 Download (Audio with Slide PDFs) $297.00
Available 24 hours after the live event
Webinar Download (Slide Presentation with Audio) $297.00
Available three business days after the live event
CD (Audio with Slide PDFs) $297.00
plus $9.45 S&H
Available ten business days after the live event
DVD (Slide Presentation with Audio) $297.00
plus $9.45 S&H
Available ten business days after the live event
CLE Processing on Recorded Event $65.00
CLE on Live Event
Continuing Legal Education credit processing is available for an additional $65 per person per state in states where webinars and teleconferences are accredited.
You may register for CLE credit processing before or after a program (application deadlines vary by state). Exceptions: Pennsylvania attorneys must pre-register for CLE. Maine and Alabama attorneys please call 1-800-926-7926 ext. 10 for special instructions.
CLE credits are not available for DE, IN, KS, OH, and PR or for NY attorneys admitted within the last 2 years.
CLE Processing $65.00
Webinar/Teleconference
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Program Materials
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Program Materials
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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.
Customer Reviews
All of the speakers had a wide range of knowledge.
Kimberly Hayes
General Mills
One of the best CLEs outside my firm that I have attended in a long time. The materials and the dual perspectives were great and the comments on one another's presentations were very instructive.
Lisa Taylor Hudson
Sands Anderson Marks & Miller
I found the content very useful and was impressed by the high quality of each speaker's ability to articulate his presentation.
Andrew Lillie
Hogan & Hartson
The best teleconference I have experienced — bar none. Well done in every respect.
Jake Jacobson
Osborne Construction Co.
The program was very to the point — no fluff.
Brian McNamara
Wright Lindsey & Jennings
Environmental Law Advisory Board
Partner
Allen Matkins
Partner
Loeb & Loeb
Of Counsel
Stoel Rives
Partner
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
Partner
Arnold & Porter
Partner
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig
Partner
Cravath Swaine & Moore
Partner
Bryan Cave