SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH INDUSTRY ON SUPERFUND 'PRODUCT' DEFENSE

摘要

Rejecting arguments the Department of Justice (DOJ) made on behalf of EPA, the Supreme Court has backed Shell Oil Co.'s use of the so-called "useful product" defense from Superfund liability at a contaminated site in California, overturning an appellate ruling that industry groups feared could undermine their use of the defense.rnIn its May 4 ruling in the consolidated cases Shell Oil v. United States and Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. v. United States, the high court also sided with industry in finding that lower courts are not obligated in all circumstances to hold parties responsible for contamination jointly and severally liable for the entirety of EPA's cleanup costs, as the railroads involved in the case had argued.