Private party cost recovery and injunctive relief actions in property contamination cases -- claims and defenses
- McClintock, Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava, & MacCuish, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Property owners in California are increasingly faced with the prospect of investigating and, if necessary remediating contamination on real property that may have been caused or contributed to by prior owners, tenants or neighbors. This article explores some of the legal remedies available to such property owners as well as some of the practical considerations associated with bringing such claims in California state and federal courts. Such suits, commonly referred to as private party cost recovery action, this article also explores the available remedies, the statutes of limitation, and some common defenses, as well as jurisdiction and venue considerations. We do not cover claims against insurance carriers to recover cleanup costs under insurance contracts. The article is organized by first reviewing the few, but important statutorily-created private rights of action. These statutory provisions were enacted, in part, out of the legislature`s stated perception of the failure of traditional common law claims to provide practical remedies. In addition, statutorily-created private rights of action were viewed by federal and state legislators as an important compliment to the broad authority being granted to public agencies in the same statutes to oversee the cleanup of contaminated sites. However, given the sparse language in these private remedy statutory provisions, it is clear that the legislators did not anticipate the significant door they had opened into the courts. Even a cursory review of the decisions reported in any of the published annotated codes under CERCLA Section 107, 42 USC {section}9607, illustrates the large numbers of opinions, most issued in the past 10 years.
- OSTI ID:
- 96689
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9504134--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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