United States v. Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corp.

Occidental Chemical Corporation (OCC) (defendant), also known as Hooker Chemicals and Plastics Corporation or Hooker Electrochemical Company, dumped nearly 22,000 tons of chemical waste into the Love Canal landfill, located in upstate New York. Some of the chemicals dumped were classified as hazardous under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). Subsequently, OCC sold the landfill site to the Niagara Falls Board of Education (NFBOE). Several years later, hazardous chemicals were discovered in the surrounding groundwater, surface water, soil, and residential buildings. New York State and the federal government (collectively, the government) (plaintiffs) declared a public health emergency. The government sued OCC, arguing that (1) OCC should be held jointly and severally liable under CERCLA for the costs incurred to clean up the landfill site, relocate families living in the surrounding area, and otherwise abate the environmental contamination, and (2) OCC should be held liable for creating a public nuisance under New York common law by dumping hazardous chemicals in a way that endangered the public. The district court granted the government partial summary judgment on the issue of costs under CERCLA. The court then separately ruled on the government’s motion for summary judgment regarding the public-nuisance issue.