Earlier this month, New Jersey’s Appellate Division affirmed a judgment issued by the Chancery Division, the state’s court of equity, which required neighbors to participate and share in the costs of investigating nearby contamination even though there was not yet any evidence as to the precise source of the contamination. Matejek v. Watson et al., Dkt. No. A-4683-14T1 (N.J. Super. Ct. Mar. 3, 2017).  In doing so, the Appellate Division adopted an expansive view of the Chancery Division’s power to fashion an equitable remedy when the letter of the law, in this case New Jersey’s Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act), does not provide for one. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Contamination, Contribution, Declaratory Relief, Equity, New Jersey, Real Estate, Spill Act, Storage Tank

Earlier this month, in the case of New Jersey Dep’t of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) v. Navillus Group, Docket No. A-4726-13T3 (N.J. App. Div. Jan. 14, 2016), the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey determined that there was insufficient evidence on summary judgment to hold the principal of a company personally liable for part of a $2 million judgment in an action brought pursuant to the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act, N.J.S.A. 58:10-23.11, et seq. (the “Spill Act”) to recover costs expended by the State to clean up a contaminated property in Franklin Township owned by Jim Sullivan, Inc.  The court also reversed the trial court’s finding of liability against the defendants under a theory of unjust enrichment. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Cleanup, Contamination, Cost Recovery, Equity, New Jersey, Property Value, Remediation, Spill Act

Ten years after purchasing land in Detroit from the Michigan State Transportation Commission, Dietrich Bergmann sued that Commission and the Michigan Department of Transportation (collectively the “Department”) under CERCLA, seeking costs for investigation and remediation of his property.  The parties settled their dispute resulting in the district court’s entering a consent decree in 1991.  The decree obligated the Department to remediate Bergmann’s property in approximately 4 years .  If the Department didn’t in good faith attempt to meet the remediation deadline, then it was required to make liquidated damage payments to Bergmann of $2,000 at the beginning of each month that the remediation was incomplete. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: CERCLA, Consent Decree, Cost Recovery, Enforcement, Equity, Laches, Statute of Limitations