We have previously reported on instances where banks have incurred cleanup costs in connection with properties they have sold. For some examples, click here, here, here, here and here The latest installment of this saga involves Bank of America (BOA) which agreed to pay $1.4MM as part of a settlement involving a dry cleaner property that a […]
Lender that Sold Contaminated Property Agrees to $1.4MM Settlement Read More »
The foreclosing lender in Hoang v. California Pacific Bank, 2014 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 5230 (July 23, 2014) made some curious decisions and the result was the bank was ordered to pay damages to the purchaser that exceed the sales price of the property. The irony is that the lender probably complied with the CERCLA
Commercial property owners and asset multi-family buildings usually retain property managers firms to handle the daily operations of properties ranging from leasing, record-keeping, routine maintenance and emergency repairs. We previously discussed on how the importance of property managers understanding environmental issues, particularly the nuances of the requirements heating oil tanks for multi-family buildings. A recent New
NJ Shopping Center Owner Waits Too Long to Bring Spill Act Claim Read More »
We have previously discussed the series of district court rulings in Voggenthaler v Maryland Square LLC where homeowners and the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) sued past and former owners of a shopping center and operators of a former dry cleaner because of a mile-long groundwater plume resulting from PCE spills from the dry cleaner
Last year, we criticized the ruling in Stratford Holdings LLC v Fog Cap Retail Investors LLC where the district court for the southern district court of Georgia appeared to conflate reporting obligation of section 103 of CERCLA with the cost recovery and contribution provisions of CERCLA when the court granted a motion to dismiss by the defendant
4th Circuit Allows Landlord Cost Recovery To Proceed Read More »
In our second post on recent NJ Spill Act decisions involving historic dry cleaners, we examine New Jersey Schools Development Authority v. Marcantuone, 2012 N.J. Super. LEXIS 173 (App. Div. 10/29/12) where the appellate division ruled that a property owner who acquired a site in 1985 without performing environmental due diligence could not qualify for
Historic Dry Cleaners At Heart of Two Key NJ Spill Cases-Part 2 Read More »
2012 has turned out to be a significant year for NJ Spill Act litigation. Two opinions from this fall have been particularly notable to transactional attorneys because they involved a very common scenario encountered in urban areas-namely, properties with a history of numerous dry cleaner operators. Because dry cleaners are small businesses, their environmental impacts
Historic Dry Cleaners At Heart of Two Key NJ Spill Act Cases-Part 1 Read More »
There is no polite way to sugarcoat the opinion of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Stratford Holdings LLC v Fog Cap Retail Investors LLC and Footlocker Retail , Inc. , No 1:11-C-3463 (Sept. 17, 2012).This is a bad decision that reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of CERCLA. If followed
Georgia District Court Narrowly Construes Right of Cost Recovery Read More »
A federal district court declined to dismiss a RCRA 7002 action brought by a foreclosing lender against the owner of an adjacent dry cleaner in Forest Park National Bank & Trust v Ditchfield, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103007(N.D. Ill. 7/24/12). The court also granted summary judgment on the bank’s CERCLA cost recovery claim. One reason
Foreclosing Lender RCRA Action May Proceed Read More »
Dry cleaners may be small businesses but they have a disproportionate impact on the environment. Studies suggest that at least 75% of the dry cleaners in operation prior to 2000 have probably had releases of PCE which means lots of strip malls and shopping centers may have been contaminated by PCE. Not surprisingly, dry cleaner
Dry Cleaner Equipment Financer Settles CERCLA Claim Read More »