United States v. Union Corp.

277 F. Supp. 2d 478 (2009)

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United States v. Union Corp.

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
277 F. Supp. 2d 478 (2009)

  • Written by Abby Keenan, JD

Facts

The United States brought a lawsuit under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in federal district court against potentially responsible parties (PRPs) (plaintiffs), including Union Corp., to recover cleanup costs for a site contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The PCBs were released during the recycling of electrical transformers at the site. The PRPs filed a contribution claim as third-party plaintiffs against Monsanto (defendant), the manufacturer of the PCBs, even though the PRPs did not receive the PCB-laden materials directly from Monsanto. The PRPs raised several state-law claims, including strict products liability, strict liability for abnormally dangerous activity, and trespass. Monsanto filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that (1) Monsanto was not liable under a theory of strict products liability, because its PCB-containing products were not unfit for their intended purposes; (2) Monsanto was not liable under a theory of strict liability for abnormally dangerous activity, because it did not engage in any abnormally dangerous activity; and (3) Monsanto was not liable under a trespass theory, because it did not intentionally cause its product to be deposited at the site. The federal district court applied Pennsylvania law in addressing the state-law claims.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Giles, C.J.)

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Casebooks

Environmental Law

Key Terms

  • TrespassA wrongful act perpetrated against a person or a person’s property, most commonly an intrusion upon another’s real property.
  • ContributionThe right of a defendant who is adjudged jointly and severally liable with other tortfeasors to recover from those other tortfeasors, amounts paid by the defendant in excess of the defendant’s share as determined by the percentage of fault assigned.
  • Strict Products LiabilityProvides that a manufacturer or distributor is liable if its product is defective, the defect existed when the product left its hands, and the defect caused injury to an end user that was reasonably foreseeable.
  • Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)A federal environmental law passed in 1980 that imposes wide-ranging liability on owners and operators of sites that are contaminated with hazardous materials. CERCLA is commonly referred to as Superfund.
  • Third-Party PlaintiffA defendant to a lawsuit who files a pleading against someone not party to the case in an attempt to bring that party into the proceeding.

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