In Novel Ruling, Court Rejects U.S. Stance On Superfund Settlement Credits

摘要

In an unusual ruling, a federal district court in Wisconsin has rejected the United States' arguments about how a potentially responsible party's (PRP) liabilities for cleanup may be offset, finding the question of whether the federal government over-recovered for natural resources damages (NRD) at a Superfund site and the effect that may have on other liabilities must go to trial. The United States argued in United States of America, et al. v. NCR Corporation, et al. that Superfund law does not allow a non-settling PRP to attempt to offset its cleanup response liabilities by the amount of a settlement made by other PRPs and which the government steered to NRD recovery.