[CPEO-MEF] CONTRACTORS: "Ninth Circuit Requires US to Pay Defense Contractor Cleanup Costs"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Ninth Circuit Requires US to Pay Defense Contractor Cleanup Costs

by Wilme Hale
JD Supra
October 19, 2017

On October 4, the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court for the Southern District of California's decision to allocate to a government contractor 100 percent of cleanup costs for hazardous contamination at a manufacturing facility for failure to consider the involvement of the United States in contributing to that contamination, and remanded the case for additional proceedings.1 The Court based its decision largely on existing doctrine in the Ninth Circuit, and the holding provides further support for government contractors, particularly those that contributed to the war effort in the 1940s, seeking contribution from the United States for cleanup costs incurred under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

TDY Holdings, LLC, and TDY Industries, LLC (collectively, TDY), along with a predecessor, operated a manufacturing plant near the San Diego airport for 60 years, beginning in 1939. During the 1940s, TDY built aircraft and aircraft parts primarily to support the war effort. At the height of the war, 99 percent of TDY's work at the facility was in the service of government contracts. Operations at the site involved the use of hazardous substances—chromium compounds, chlorinated solvents, and polychlorinated biphenyls—and resulted in contamination, necessitating cleanup and remediation. After a 2007 settlement of CERCLA liability, TDY sought contribution from the United States.

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For the entire article, sere
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ninth-circuit-requires-us-to-pay-92468/

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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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