New York v. Solvent Chemical Co., Inc. ( 2011 )


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  •      10-2026-cv
    State of New York v. Solvent Chemical Co. et al.
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT
    SUMMARY ORDER
    RULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT. CITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED
    ON OR AFTER JANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY FEDERAL RULE OF APPELLATE
    PROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT’S LOCAL RULE 32.1.1. WHEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A
    DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT, A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE FEDERAL APPENDIX OR AN
    ELECTRONIC DATABASE (WITH THE NOTATION “SUMMARY ORDER”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST
    SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL.
    1            At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals
    2       for the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan
    3       United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of
    4       New York, on the 19th day of December, two thousand eleven.
    5
    6       PRESENT: DENNIS JACOBS,
    7                              Chief Judge,
    8                PETER W. HALL,
    9                GERARD E. LYNCH,
    10                              Circuit Judges.
    11
    12       - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X
    13       STATE OF NEW YORK,
    14                Plaintiff,
    15
    16                    -v.-                                        10-2026-cv(L)
    17                                                                10-2166-cv(XAP)
    18       SOLVENT CHEMICAL COMPANY, INC.,                          10-2383-cv(XAP)
    19                Defendant-Third Party
    20                Plaintiff-Appellant-Cross
    21                Appellee,
    22
    23       ICC INDUSTRIES, INC.,
    24                Defendant-Third Party
    25                Plaintiff-Cross Appellee,
    26
    27                    -v.-
    28
    1
    1   OLIN CORPORATION,
    2            Third Party Defendant-
    3            Counterclaimant-Appellee-
    4            Cross Appellant,
    5
    6   E.I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & COMPANY,
    7            Third Party Defendant-
    8            Appellee-Cross Appellant.
    9
    10   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -X
    11
    12   FOR APPELLANT:             Dennis P. Harkawik, Charles D.
    13                              Grieco, Brenda J. Joyce, Jaeckle
    14                              Fleischmann & Mugel, LLP,
    15                              Buffalo, New York, for Appellant
    16                              Solvent Chemical Company, Inc.
    17
    18   FOR CROSS APPELLEE:        Irwin F. Roth, Law Office of
    19                              Irwin Roth, New York, New York,
    20                              Robert J. Basil, Collier &
    21                              Basil, P.C., New York, New York,
    22                              for Cross Appellee ICC
    23                              Industries, Inc.
    24
    25   FOR APPELLEES:             Daniel M. Darragh, Cohen &
    26                              Grigsby, P.C., Pittsburgh,
    27                              Pennsylvania, for Appellee E.I.
    28                              du Pont de Nemours & Company.
    29
    30                              JoAnn T. Sandifer, Michael H.
    31                              Wetmore, Joel B. Samson, Husch
    32                              Blackwell LLP, St. Louis,
    33                              Missouri, for Appellee Olin
    34                              Corporation.
    35
    36
    37        Appeal from a judgment of the United States District
    38   Court for the Western District of New York (Curtin, J.).
    39
    40        UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED
    41   AND DECREED that the judgment of the district court be
    42   AFFIRMED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, AND
    43   REMANDED.
    2
    1        Both sides appeal from a judgment entered by the United
    2   States District Court for the Western District of New York
    3   (Curtin, J.), resolving protracted litigation about who
    4   bears liability under the Comprehensive Environmental
    5   Response and Compensation Act (“CERCLA”), 
    42 U.S.C. §§ 6
       9601-9675, for pollution at adjoining industrial sites. New
    7   York v. Solvent Chemical Co., 
    685 F. Supp. 2d 357
     (W.D.N.Y.
    8   2010). In a separate opinion issued today in Docket No. 10-
    9   2026-cv, we reverse the denial of Solvent’s request for a
    10   declaratory judgment that the appellees are liable for
    11   future contribution costs.
    12
    13        We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying
    14   facts, procedural history, and issues presented for review,
    15   and here set forth only the most salient aspects of the
    16   case.
    17
    18        For some decades, three companies owned adjoining
    19   facilities in the City of Niagara Falls, New York. E.I. du
    20   Pont de Nemours & Co. (“DuPont”) owned and operated a
    21   chemical facility on water near the Niagara River. Solvent
    22   Chemical Company, Inc. (“Solvent”) and Olin Corporation
    23   (“Olin”) owned and operated adjoining sites inland of
    24   DuPont’s. The Olin property (which is known as the Olin Hot
    25   Spot) is bounded by the Solvent property on one side and on
    26   the other side by Gill Creek, which continues across the
    27   DuPont site into the waterway. An 18-inch drainage pipe,
    28   running under the Olin property, carried drainage from the
    29   Solvent Site into Gill Creek. During World War II, DuPont
    30   operated a chemical facility on what became the Solvent
    31   Site.
    32
    33        In 1983, New York sued Solvent, its parent company, ICC
    34   Industries, Inc. (“ICC”), and others for environmental
    35   contamination at the Solvent Site (“Solvent I”). Three
    36   years later, Solvent filed a third-party complaint against
    37   DuPont, seeking contribution from DuPont for pollution
    38   generated from DuPont’s operations on the Solvent Site
    39   during World War II. New York added DuPont as a defendant
    40   soon after. In 1996, the New York Department of
    41   Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) issued a Record of
    42   Decision (“ROD”) requiring Solvent to undertake remedial
    43   action at both the Solvent Site and the Olin Hot Spot as a
    44   result of chlorinated benzene contamination. Solvent
    3
    1   entered into a consent decree with New York obligating it to
    2   perform the remedies specified in the ROD in settlement of
    3   New York’s CERCLA claims. Solvent began construction of the
    4   remedies in 1999 and continues to operate them today.
    5
    6        DuPont signed a consent decree with New York resolving
    7   its liability for pollution at the Solvent Site stemming
    8   from its own operations on the site during World War II.
    9   The consent decree specifically excluded pollution
    10   originating from the neighboring DuPont facility and
    11   migrating to the Solvent Site or Olin Hot Spot.
    12
    13        In 1998, Solvent filed a fifth amended third-party
    14   complaint adding Olin as a party and seeking contribution
    15   for its response costs incurred under its consent decree
    16   with New York. Olin counterclaimed against Solvent and
    17   filed a fourth-party claim against ICC seeking to recover a
    18   portion of response costs incurred while cleaning up Gill
    19   Creek in the early 1990s.
    20
    21        In 2001, Solvent commenced a new suit against DuPont
    22   asserting both cost recovery and contribution claims under
    23   CERCLA for the costs incurred under its consent decree with
    24   New York that resulted from migration of chlorinated
    25   aliphatics from the adjoining DuPont facility onto the
    26   Solvent Site and Olin Hot Spot (“Solvent II”).
    27
    28        Solvent I and Solvent II were consolidated and tried
    29   without a jury over 19 days in late 2007. The district
    30   court entered judgment on May 14, 2010, awarding Solvent
    31   contribution from DuPont in the amount of $2,050,371 and
    32   from Olin in the amount of $462,288 for costs incurred prior
    33   a date in 2007 (chosen for administrative convenience). It
    34   denied Solvent’s prayer for a declaratory judgment that
    35   DuPont and Olin were liable for future cleanup costs. The
    36   court also ordered Solvent to pay Olin $8,041 for the
    37   cleanup of Gill Creek.
    38
    39        Solvent’s CERCLA Contribution Claim. The judgment
    40   requires DuPont and Olin to contribute to the costs incurred
    41   by Solvent in cleaning up the Solvent Site and the Olin Hot
    42   Spot. We affirm. The Solvent obligation arose under its
    43   consent decree with New York. Solvent is therefore entitled
    44   to seek contribution from potentially responsible parties
    4
    1   (“PRPs”) under CERCLA’s contribution provision. See 42
    
    2 U.S.C. § 9613
    (f)(3)(B) [CERCLA § 113(f)(3)(B)] (“A person
    3   who has resolved its liability to the United States or a
    4   State for some or all of a response action or for some or
    5   all of the costs of such action in an administrative or
    6   judicially approved settlement may seek contribution from
    7   any person . . . .”).
    8
    9        DuPont argues that Solvent cannot obtain relief under
    10   subsection 113(f)(3)(B) because Solvent’s complaint linked
    11   the contribution claim to subsection 113(f)(1). Even if the
    12   two subsections constitute separate causes of action for
    13   contribution, it is the factual allegations that render a
    14   federal complaint viable, not a recitation of statutes. See
    15   Albert v. Carovano, 
    851 F.2d 561
    , 571 n.3 (2d Cir. 1988).
    16   The filing of Solvent’s original complaint (Solvent II) put
    17   DuPont on notice that Solvent was seeking contribution for
    18   costs it was incurring to clean up the Solvent Site and Olin
    19   Hot Spot pursuant to a consent decree with New York. This
    20   suffices to state a claim for contribution under CERCLA.
    21   Cf. Consol. Edison Co. of N.Y., Inc. v. UGI Utils., Inc.,
    22   
    423 F.3d 90
    , 104 (2d Cir. 2005) (finding that party
    23   adequately pled claim for cost recovery under section 107(a)
    24   when it had erroneously cited section 113(f)(1) in its
    25   complaint).1 We also find that DuPont failed to preserve
    26   any statute of limitations defense that it had to Solvent’s
    27   claim by failing to raise it until 2006.
    28
    29        The district court did not err in concluding that
    30   Solvent sustained its burden of proof: (1) DuPont was a PRP
    31   under section 107(a); (2) the DuPont plant is a facility
    32   under section 101(9); (3) DuPont released hazardous
    33   substances at the facility; (4) Solvent incurred some costs
    34   in responding to the release; and (5) the costs incurred
    35   conform to the National Contingency Plan. See Prisco v. A &
    36   D Carting Corp., 
    168 F.3d 593
    , 602-03 (2d Cir. 1999).
    37   DuPont argues that it cannot have common liability at the
    38   DuPont Site or Hot Spot because it released chemicals at a
    39   neighboring plant. Not so. See Niagara Mohawk Power Corp.
    1
    We do not express an opinion on whether Solvent may
    proceed on its § 107(a) claim, as that claim is unnecessary
    to Solvent’s recovery here.
    5
    1   v. Chevron U.S.A., Inc., 
    596 F.3d 112
    , 134-35 (2d Cir.
    2   2010).
    3
    4        DuPont’s Divisibility Defense. DuPont argues that any
    5   liability it might have for harm to the Solvent Site is
    6   “divisible” from that of Solvent and Olin, and that it
    7   should pay only the incremental cost caused by the presence
    8   of chlorinated aliphatics at the Solvent Site and Olin Hot
    9   Spot. Divisibility (or apportionment) is inapplicable to
    10   contribution claims under section 113(f); it is a common law
    11   doctrine that may be used to blunt the harshness of joint-
    12   and-several liability under section 107(a). See Burlington
    13   N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. United States, 
    129 S. Ct. 1870
    ,
    14   1882 & n.9 (2009). “[A]pportionment looks to whether
    15   defendants may avoid joint and several liability by
    16   establishing a fixed amount of damage for which they are
    17   liable, while contribution actions allow jointly and
    18   severally liable PRPs to recover from each other on the
    19   basis of equitable considerations.” 
    Id.
     (internal quotation
    20   marks and alterations omitted).
    21
    22        Exclusion of Testimony. An Olin employee, James Brown,
    23   testified about remediation of Gill Creek undertaken from
    24   1990 to 1992, what was cleaned up, and how much it cost.
    25   The district court excluded his opinion testimony that
    26   Solvent should be responsible for the cost of cleaning up
    27   the full length of the creek (rather than just a small
    28   portion) because such a cleanup would have been required on
    29   account of Solvent’s chlorinated benzene alone. The
    30   district court excluded this portion of Brown’s testimony
    31   under Fed. R. Evid. 701(c), as testimony based on the
    32   witness’s scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge
    33   rather than observation.
    34
    35        We review evidentiary rulings for abuse of discretion.
    36   General Elec. Co. v. Joiner, 
    522 U.S. 136
    , 139 (1997). We
    37   see no such error in the district court’s conclusion that
    38   Brown relied on his technical knowledge to (1) link
    39   chlorinated benzene pollution throughout Gill Creek to
    40   Solvent and (2) assess whether the chlorinated benzene
    41   attributable to Solvent alone would have necessitated the
    42   removal of sediment throughout the creek. In analyzing the
    43   chemicals found in the stream and comparing them to state
    44   cleanup standards, Brown no doubt relied on the expertise he
    6
    1   had developed in 27 years of working on environmental and
    2   remediation projects. A witness’s application of
    3   specialized knowledge to facts gleaned in an investigation
    4   in order to render an opinion at trial is sufficient to run
    5   afoul of Rule 701(c). See United States v. Garcia, 
    413 F.3d 6
       201, 216-17 (2d Cir. 2005).
    7
    8        ICC’s Direct Liability Under § 107(a)(2). The district
    9   court ruled that Solvent’s parent company, ICC, is not
    10   liable for Solvent’s pollution of Gill Creek. Under CERCLA,
    11   a parent company can be held liable for a subsidiary’s
    12   environmental harms if it directly “operates” the facility
    13   responsible for the harm. See United States v. Bestfoods,
    14   
    524 U.S. 51
    , 64-65 (1998). In order for a parent to be
    15   directly liable under CERCLA, it “must manage, direct, or
    16   conduct operations specifically related to pollution, that
    17   is, operations having to do with the leakage or disposal of
    18   hazardous waste, or decisions about compliance with
    19   environmental regulations.” 
    Id. at 66-67
    . Of course, as
    20   the Supreme Court has recognized, “the difficulty comes in
    21   defining actions sufficient to constitute direct parental
    22   ‘operation.’” 
    Id. at 66
    .
    23
    24        Olin cites as evidence of control a series of Solvent
    25   consultations with employees of another ICC subsidiary,
    26   Dover Chemical. According to the president of Solvent (who
    27   was also president of Dover), Dover employees were asked to
    28   “look over the [Solvent] plant and give [Solvent]
    29   suggestions” based on their expertise. Joint Appendix 229.
    30   It cannot be said that by this consultation, ICC exercised
    31   control over Solvent’s operations that resulted in
    32   environmental harm and that was “eccentric under accepted
    33   norms of parental oversight of a subsidiary's facility,”
    34   such that it is subject to operator liability under CERCLA.
    35   Bestfoods, 
    524 U.S. at 72
    .
    36
    37        Allocation. Dupont and Solvent challenge different
    38   aspects of the district court’s allocation of past response
    39   costs. We review a district court’s allocation of response
    40   costs for abuse of discretion. Goodrich Corp. v. Town of
    41   Middlebury, 
    311 F.3d 154
    , 168-69 (2d Cir. 2002). A district
    42   court abuses its discretion where (1) its decision rests on
    43   a legal error or clearly erroneous factual finding or (2)
    7
    1   its allocation cannot be located within the range of
    2   permissible outcomes. 
    Id. at 169
    .
    3
    4        As to the allocation of damages for the Solvent Site,
    5   the district court adopted the framework proposed by a
    6   Solvent expert, James Kohanek, which evaluated each party’s
    7   share of the contamination addressed by each component of
    8   the ROD. Using this framework, and relying on the findings
    9   of other experts, Kohanek found that 68.39% of the
    10   groundwater being remediated contained chlorinated
    11   aliphatics and 31.61% contained chlorinated benzenes. He
    12   attributed 98% of the aliphatics to DuPont, using a “tracer”
    13   compound associated with its plant, and 2% to Solvent.    He
    14   attributed 98% of the benzene to Solvent and 2% to Olin. He
    15   proposed allocating damages strictly along these volumetric
    16   lines.
    17
    18        While adopting Kohanek’s framework, the court found
    19   that Kohanek erred in failing to “account for the principal
    20   negative environmental impact of the chlorinated benzenes
    21   driving the groundwater remedy,” and “for significant
    22   concentrations of chlorinated benzene DNAPL[2] found in the
    23   soil covering approximately 60% of the Site as well as in
    24   the bedrock fractures[.]” Solvent, 
    685 F. Supp. 2d at 451
    .
    25   The court turned to the allocation proposed by DuPont’s
    26   expert, Charles Faust, which used volumes from monitoring
    27   wells--rather than pumping wells, as Kohanek did--and then
    28   adjusted the volumes by the relative risk of harm each
    29   contaminant posed to groundwater. The court averaged Faust
    30   and Kohanek’s calculations to conclude that chlorinated
    31   benzenes contributed 62.05% to the cost of cleanup and
    32   chlorinated aliphatics 37.95%. It discounted DuPont’s share
    33   of aliphatic contamination by 10% (giving that portion of
    34   liability to Solvent) to account for “the principley
    2
    DNAPL, or dense nonaqueous phase liquid, is a
    heavier-than-water substance that flows through soil and
    into bedrock, where it comes to rest, cannot easily be
    cleaned, and acts as a long-term source of groundwater
    pollution. The DEC selected a long-term containment
    strategy rather than a cleanup strategy because of the
    presence of DNAPL that could not be cleaned up and would
    continue to pollute the groundwater for years.
    8
    1   negative environmental impact” of chlorinated benzenes. 
    Id.
    2   at 451. The court ultimately assigned Solvent 65.98% of the
    3   cost, DuPont 33.39% of the cost, and Olin .63% of the cost.
    4
    5        DuPont argues that Kohanek’s proposed allocation of
    6   costs overlooked relative toxicities of chlorinated benzene
    7   and chlorinated aliphatics. However, the court’s allocation
    8   recognizes that Kohanek’s proposed allocation did not
    9   account for toxicity. It also recognized that Faust’s
    10   allocation did account for toxicity, and it was therefore
    11   part of the overall allocation. There was no abuse of
    12   discretion.
    13
    14        As to the allocation of damages for the Olin Hot Spot,
    15   the district court again relied on Kohanek’s framework in
    16   allocating remediation costs. Kohanek testified that
    17   chlorinated aliphatics constituted 93.52% of the
    18   contamination in the Hot Spot groundwater, and chlorianted
    19   benzenes constituted 6.48%. He allocated 100% of the
    20   aliphatics to DuPont, which the parties do not contest on
    21   appeal. He allocated 98% of the chlorinated benzene to Olin
    22   and 2% to Solvent. He therefore proposed that DuPont bear
    23   93.52% of the cost, Olin 6.35% (98% x 6.48%), and Solvent
    24   0.13% (2% x 6.48%).   The district court found the proposed
    25   allocation inequitable, reasoning that:
    26
    27       [T]he undisputed proof at trial established that the
    28       DEC’s integrated B-Zone remedy for the Solvent Site
    29       included the installation and operations of pumping
    30       wells on Olin’s property to achieve hydraulic control
    31       at the Hot Spot, based on the determination that the
    32       contaminants found in that area were similar to the
    33       predominant site indicator chemicals driving the
    34       remedy--i.e., chlorinated benzenes--which were likely
    35       due in part to migration from the Solvent Site.
    36
    37   Solvent, 
    685 F. Supp. 2d at 452
     (internal quotation marks
    38   omitted). Citing the parties’ inability to “reach any
    39   workable consensus as to the reasonable scientific
    40   conclusions to be drawn from the vast amounts of data
    41   generated at the Site,” the district court concluded that
    42   DuPont should bear the same amount of liability for the Olin
    43   Hot Spot as it did the Solvent Site (i.e., 33.39%), and that
    44   Olin should bear the responsibility proposed by Solvent
    9
    1   (6.35%). 
    Id. at 452-53
    . The court allocated the remaining
    2   60.26% to Solvent. 
    Id. at 453
    .
    3
    4        The district court failed to adequately articulate a
    5   basis for its allocation. Solvent’s proposal that Olin bear
    6   6.35% of the cleanup costs for the Olin Hot Spot was
    7   premised on the view that 93.52% of the costs resulted from
    8   contamination by chlorinated aliphatics, of which DuPont was
    9   the sole producer. The district court’s rejection of this
    10   view in favor of a finding that the remedy was driven
    11   primarily by contamination from chlorinated benzenes--which
    12   both Olin and Solvent produced--therefore removes the
    13   foundation for the 6.35% figure. Moreover, the district
    14   court should not, without further explanation, have borrowed
    15   for its Hot Spot findings the same percentage of
    16   responsibility it had allocated to DuPont for B-Zone
    17   contamination at the Solvent Site. There was substantial
    18   dispute about the nature and extent of contamination at the
    19   Hot Spot, as well as about the similarity (or lack thereof)
    20   between the contamination at the Hot Spot and at the Solvent
    21   Site. Absent resolution of at least some of these issues,
    22   the district court's use of its allocation at the Solvent
    23   Site in allocating costs for the Hot Spot is not supported.
    24   Although the district court was disserved by the “parties’
    25   inability to reach any workable consensus as to the
    26   reasonable scientific conclusions” to be drawn from the
    27   evidence, 
    id. at 452
    , the finding made nevertheless lacks
    28   support.
    29
    30        For the foregoing reasons, we AFFIRM in part, VACATE
    31   the district court’s allocation of response costs for the
    32   Olin Hot Spot, REVERSE the district court’s judgment in
    33   favor of Olin and DuPont on Solvent’s prayer for a
    34   declaratory judgment for reasons stated in a separate
    35   opinion issued today, and REMAND for the district court to
    36   reallocate response for the Olin Hot Spot and to enter a
    37   declaratory judgment in favor of Solvent not inconsistent
    38   with this order.
    39
    40                              FOR THE COURT:
    41                              CATHERINE O’HAGAN WOLFE, CLERK
    42
    43
    10