As anyone who has gone through the New York State Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) is all too aware, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) has an important role in the cleanup process. The NYSDOH is responsible for determining that work completed under the NYSDEC remedial programs are protective of public health for the […]
NYSDOH Lowers Vapor Intrusion Action Levels for TCE Read More »
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
The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) recently reduced its air guideline value for PCE from 100 to 30 micrograms per cubic meter of air (30 mcg/m3). Three other ways of expressing the new guideline are 0.03 milligrams per cubic meter of air (0.03 mg/m3), 4.4 parts per billion (ppb) or 0.0044 parts per
NYDOH Lowers PCE Recommended Action Level For Vapor Intrusion 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 »
Statutes of limitations (SOL) establish the time period for bringing a cause of action. SOLs are designed to encourage resolution of disputes within a reasonable period of time before facts or evidence is lost through the passage of time, death or disappearance of witness as well as the loss of memory. The SOL will differ
Vapor Intrusion and Statutes of Limitations Read More »