O'Neil v. Picillo

In 1977, the Picillo family allowed a portion of their pig farm in Coventry, Rhode Island, to be used as a disposal site for drummed and bulk waste. Thousands of barrels of waste were dumped on the farm, and a major fire broke out as a result of the improperly stored wastes. The state of Rhode Island and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly undertook clean-up efforts and were met with massive trenches and pits filled with liquid wastes and thousands of corroded drums containing toxic fluids. The engineer overseeing the cleanup testified that most barrels at the site were so degraded that they were indistinguishable and it could not be determined where the barrels originated from. The state filed a complaint under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) against 35 defendants and sought to recover clean-up costs and hold responsible parties liable for future costs associated with the site. All but five defendants entered into settlement agreements. A bench trial found three of the five parties jointly and severally liable for all past costs not covered by the settlement agreements and for all future costs. Two of the three parties held responsible, American Cyanamid and Rohm and Haas (the generators), appealed and contended that their contribution to the source pollution and subsequent fire was insubstantial and that it was thus unfair to hold them jointly and severally liable. The generators argued that because the state’s cleanup costs involved only surface cleanup, it would have been possible to determine how many barrels of waste the generators contributed to the site, and it would have then been possible to estimate the portion of removal expenses that were attributable to the generators based on the estimated cost of removing a single barrel.