United States v. Atlantic Research Corporation case brief

United States v. Atlantic Research Corporation case brief summary

127 S. Ct. 2331 (2007)

CASE SYNOPSIS: Respondent property lessee sued petitioner United States in district court under 42 U.S.C.S. § 9607(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), seeking to recover cleanup costs. The district court granted the government's motion to dismiss, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit reversed. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.

FACTS: The lessee retrofitted rocket motors for the government at a facility that was operated by the United States Department of Defense. The lessee cleaned up soil and groundwater contamination at the site and sought to recover some of its costs from the government. The government argued that § 9607(a)(4)(B) did not allow potentially responsible parties (PRPs) such as the lessee to recover costs. 

DISCUSSION

• The Supreme Court found that § 9607(a)(4)(B) provided a cause of action for cost recovery to anyone other than the United States, a state, or an Indian tribe; any private party, including a PRP, could therefore bring an action under § 9607(a)(4)(B). 
• A cost recovery action under § 9607(a) was distinct from and complimentary to an action for contribution under 42 U.S.C.S. § 9613(f)(1), which could only be brought during or following a suit under 42 U.S.C.S. §§ 9606 or 9607(a). 
• Allowing PRPs to bring cost recovery actions did not mean that PRPs could circumvent the shorter limitations period for contribution actions, and a PRP against whom a § 9607(a) action was brought could avoid inequitable apportionment of costs by filing a 42 U.S.C.S. § 9613(f) counterclaim.

CONCLUSION: The court of appeals' judgment was affirmed.

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