North Carolina Moves To Bypass High Court Superfund Tort Ruling

摘要

North Carolina's governor, Pat McCrory (R), has signed into law a bill to lift state limitations on tort claims to allow citizens to sue responsible parties for exposure to chemicals at waste sites if the contamination stems from groundwater, effectively attempting to bypass a June 9 Supreme Court ruling that found the Superfund law does not allow plaintiffs to overcome the state limitations that time-bar such suits. The new law says the court's decision runs counter to the legislature's intentions and interpretation of law. The high court's 7-2 decision in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger found that the Superfund law does not broadly preempt state limitations - known as statutes of repose - on tort claims filed by plaintiffs who had been exposed to chemicals at waste sites. The ruling left residents living near a North Carolina Superfund site unable to obtain compensation for property damage and the possibility of future illness due to exposure to the industrial solvents trichloroethylene (TCE) and cis-1, 2-dichloroethane.