RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

December 2011

To read this entire item of approximately 2000 words online now in PDF format: Click here to read this item if you are an existing subscriber to this publication. Click here to purchase the full text of this item to read now (price: $25). To subscribe to this publication and immediately access all its archives including this item, select the relevant publication under 'Catalogue' in the left-hand column PLEASE NOTE: to read PDFs on www.argento.com you must be using Version 5 of Acrobat Reader or Adobe Reader. If you have an earlier version you can download the latest free of charge by clicking here

District Court Finds Admission that Release ‘May’ Present an Imminent and Substantial Endangerment Sufficient to Grant Affirmative Relief
Olson v. Beck, ___F.Supp.2d___

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has granted in part, and denied in part, plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and multiple nuisance causes of action arising out of the contamination of their property from defendants’ operation of a service station on adjacent land. The court held that by defendants’ own admissions, defendants were liable under RCRA as a past or present owner/operator of a storage facility who had contributed to the past storage of hazardous waste that may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to health or the environment.